VEGETABLE SILKS. 77 



Loudon says of this peculiar plant: "The stem is no bigger than a 

 thread ; the skin whitish as if covered with hoar frost, within, tough and 

 black like a horse-hair. Many of these stick together on the branches of 

 the ebony or other trees, superficially, by the middle, and send down on 

 each side some of the same stems, very often a yard long, hanging on 

 both sides, curled or twining, and winding one within another, and 

 resembling an l old man's beard/ whence the common name in Jamaica. 

 The stems are branched, and the branches, which are 2 or 3 inches 

 long, are set with roughish, white frosted leaves. The flowers are placed 

 at the end of the branches. This curious, slender, parasitical plant is 



Fig. 48. Fibres of Red Cotton Silk (magn.). 



found among the trees in many parts of Jamaica, but does not grow so 

 commonly there, nor so luxuriantly, as it does in the northern provinces 

 of the main continent, where it is said to overrun whole forests. It is 

 frequently imported from Jamaica to North America, for the use of the 

 saddlers and coach-makers, who commonly stuff their panels and 

 cushions with it. It is manufactured by tying the stalks in bunches, 

 and sinking them in water, or burying them underground in a moist 

 place until the bark rots. They are then taken up, boiled in water, and 

 washed until the fibres are quite cleared of the pulp. These are often 

 used instead of horse-hair, being so very like it that a man cannot 



