Isatis tinctoria
In temperate climates including Europe, indigo was obtained primarily from woad ("Isatis tinctoria"), an indigenous plant of Assyria and the Levant which has been grown in Northern Europe over 2,000 years, although from the 18th century it was mostly replaced by superior Indian indigo imported by the British East India Company. Woad was carried to New England in the 17th century and used extensively in America until native stands of indigo were discovered in Florida and the Carolinas. In Sumatra, indigo dye is extracted from some species of "Marsdenia". Other indigo-bearing dye plants include dyer's knotweed ("Polygonum tinctorum") from Japan and the coasts of China, and the West African shrub "Lonchocarpus cyanescens".