GEBANGA PALM HEMP. 21 



general microscopic appearance of the substance shows a long cylindrical 

 iibre-like flax ; iodine and sulphuric acid colour the fibre yellow. 

 Its methyl number is 9 '2 9, corresponding to 17 '5 6 per cent, of lignin 

 in the dry material, a value which is practically identical with that 

 found in the commoner Aloe perfoliata (17*22 per cent.). The ash of 

 the fibres is poor in silica (3'78 per cent of SiO 2 ), but very rich in 

 lime. The average proportion of ash is 1*3 per cent. 



Grass Cloth (Urtica). The fibres obtained from the common 

 stinging nettle, Urtica dioica, Linn., were at one time used in spinning 

 and weaving on the continent, in the early part of the nineteenth 

 century. The name of u Grass Cloth " is applied not only to the fabric 

 woven from the fibres of U. dioica, but is associated also with the product 

 of several species of the genus Urtica, peculiar to the floras of other 

 countries. 



Gri Gri Fibre is derived from plants of the genus Astrocaryum 

 (Palmacese). The fibres have been used for the making of fishing nets, 

 bow strings and other articles. The plants are natives of the Brazils ; 

 one species is known as the A. acaule, the stemless astrocaryon, the leaves 

 of which have been used for the making of baskets. 



Hardwickia Fibre. The plant (one of the Fabacese) from which 

 this fibre is obtained is a native of India, where it grows to a height of 

 100 feet. The bast part of the stem is the region from whence the fibre 

 is obtained ; it is of considerable importance for cordage purposes as a 

 bastose fibre. 



Hemp, Common (Cannalis sativa, Linn., Cannabinaceae). The bast 

 fibres of hemp are similar to those of the flax plant. It is much used 

 for sail-making, and in the weaving of other fabrics, but it is now also 

 used extensively for rope cordage purposes. 



The hemp plant thrives in a similar soil to that suitable for flax, and 

 is a native of England. It is dioecious. It has been grown pretty 

 extensively in the low alluvial districts of Lincolnshire, and at 

 Holderness. Hemp fibre is largely exported from Russia and Italy. 



The fibres of hemp are tenacious, and hemp cordage has been much 

 used for window cords, but owing to their want of pliability and their 

 tendency to suddenly snap asunder, cotton ropes have been largely 

 substituted for them. 



Fig. 11 shows a young seedling plant of hemp, with its two first 

 leaves or cotyledons, which, in a growing state, are quite green and 

 capable of assimilating carbon dioxide. The cotyledons, as in most plants, 

 are only temporary structures, and fall off soon after other well-formed 

 leaves have appeared on the stem. Above the cotyledons is that part 

 of the stem termed the epicotyl, at the end of which is the first whorl of 



