FIBER-PRODUCING PLANTS 



351 



• 



The silk-like floss produced on the seeds of the kapok tree 

 is the most valuable of the materials used for padding and stuffing 

 (fig. 234). The original home of this tree was in tropical America, 

 but it is now grown in Asia and Africa. The United States imports 

 this fiber mostly from Java, Ceylon, and the Philippines. The 

 mature kapok tree is short-stemmed and broad crowned, with 

 a spreading, buttressed base, and will produce annually about a 

 thousand seed pods which yield about ten pounds of fiber. This 

 cotton-like floss is light brown to whitish in color; very light, 

 flufly, elastic, and impervious to water. For the latter reason it is 



Fig. 234. — Kapok seeds have a silky-haired covering, useful to man because of 

 its imperviousness to water. 



used as a life preserver filling; a small cushion stufl'ed with kapok 

 will keep a person afloat for many hours. Kapok seeds are used 

 as a source of oil for soap making and food purposes. 



Fibers from Monocot Leaves 



Fibers of this group come from very large leaves or leaf-bases, 

 where they occur as long strands of stiff'-walled cells associated 

 with the conducting tissues. 



Manila hemp, or abaca, as it is often called, is a strong, 

 valuable fiber which is obtained from several species of wild 

 plantain or banana (fig. 235). The principal source is a banana- 

 like species grown mainly in the Philippines, where it constitutes 

 the chief crop. Manila hemp plants demand a warm humid 



