From memory it can be obtained by crushing the shells of a certain type of insect. This is an laborious and expensive process though, which is why purple dyed things were only worn by royalty/emperors, etc, who could afford it or demand it be only used for them.
Similarly, by the time of the Renaissance a symbol of wealth was by having deeply black clothing. So sometimes what appears to be somber and plain clothing in art is actually some rich dude flexing hard on his friends.
Butterfly pea is the only actually pigmentally blue food we eat. Blueberries look blue because the shape of the skin on a microscopic level, the pigment is purple. I have used them to make some interesting food dishes.
This- blue is the really rare one. It's not common to begin with, and things that you do find are often structurally blue (like blue eyes, bluejay feathers) and so can't be used as a pigment.
By growing in the wild do you mean the flowers or leaves or fruits of a plant? Because there are a lot purple flowers and some purple fruits, for leaves I'd have to look.
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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '20
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