KV, 6 King: Philippine Bast-fiber Ropes 581 
of Science herbarium, and from Schneider.*® Others were ob- 
tained while studying the bast-rope industry in the Ilocos 
Provinces. 
Local Philippine names are given on account of their help- 
fulness in identifying plant species, but they must always be 
used with caution, because they are at times applied with ex- 
treme looseness. Several related species may all be known 
by one name; on the other hand, one species may be 
known by several different names in the same place and in 
the same dialect. For example, Kleinhovia hospita is called 
marakapas by the Ilocanos of Ilocos Sur, but the same term 
is also applied to a closely related species, Pterocymbium tinc- 
torium, and to Thespesia lampas, which belongs to an entirely 
different family. In the same way annabo is applied to two 
species that belong to altogether different families; namely, 
Malachra fasciata and Abroma fastuosa. Maratarong is used 
to denominate both Thespesia lampas and Cordia cumingiana. 
STERCULIACEAE 
ABROMA FASTUOSA Jack. (Abroma augusta L.). Anabo. 
Common names: Abroma, devil’s cotton (English); abrome (French) ; 
Kakaomalve, Abrome (German). 
Local names: Ambong (Tagalog); an-nabé, anabé or annabé (Abra, 
Apayao, Bataan, Benguet, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Laguna, Manila, 
Negros, Rizal, Tayabas, Union); anabong, labon, nabé, sayapo (Visayan, 
Cotabato, Negros, Rizal) ; anabi, pakalkal (Pampanga) ; anafu (Nueva Viz- 
caya); bago (Sorsogon) ; bodobodo (Ilocos Norte); nabu (Bohol, Cagayan, 
Negros) ; negegan (Batanes); sayapu (Moro in Cotabato). 
A shrub; the vegetative parts covered with stiff, somewhat 
irritating hairs; leaves heart-shaped, 10 to 30 centimeters long; 
flowers yellow, about 5 centimeters in diameter; capsules thin- 
walled, truncate, five-angled, five-winged, five-valved; widely 
distributed in the settled areas of the Philippines at low and 
medium altitudes; sometimes cultivated. 
Various statements have appeared from time to time with 
regard to Abroma fastuosa—that it is more’ eaisly cultivated than 
jute, that it yields at least three crops of fiber yearly, etc. Al- 
though it is mentioned by Watt,'*® Abroma fastuosa bast can 
* Schneider, E. E., Commercial Woods of the Philippines: Their Pre- 
paration and Uses, Bull. P. I. Bur. Forestry 14 (1916). Mr. Schneider, 
wood expert, has revised the local names used in this paper, in accordance 
with the spellings adopted by the Philippine Bureau of Forestry. 
* Watt, G., The Commercial Products of India. John Murray, London 
(1908) 1. 
