In Vanuatu a large number of tinctorial plants are to be found. Some of them are used all over the archipelago, and also throughout the Pacific area. The use of some others seem to be restricted to a particular island or group of islands. The ancestors' knowlegde remains very strong in some islands where tinctorial plants are always being used for face painting in custom dances, for hair bleaching or wood dying. Here are the plants mostly used for tinctorial purposes in Vanuatu.