MISCELLANEOUS USES 



bearing in summer silky spikes of small, purplish 

 flowers. Its favorite habitat is the borders of 

 streams. Besides the inner bark, which is an excel- 

 lent material for making coarse thread, the large 

 root contains a valuable fiber. This the California 

 Indians used to secure by pounding out the root. A 

 pleasing feature of the fiber, whether of the root or 

 the stem, is an aromatic perfume, which persists for 

 months.^ Various species of Nettle, too, soaked in 

 water, yield a fiber for cord making, as the Indians 

 long since discovered. The Nettle, indeed, has been 

 a primitive source of thread in both hemispheres; 

 and Prior, in his "Popular Names of British 

 Plants," quotes an old writer as saying, "Scotch 

 cloth is only the housewifery of the nettle." 



Another fairly good fiber, utilizable for twine aiid 

 rope, has been secured from several species of 

 Asclepias, the familiar Milkweeds. Among these 

 may be mentioned especially the Swamp Milkweed 

 {Asclepias incarnata, L.), with smooth stem and 

 foliage, and red or rose-purple flowers. It is a 

 frequent denizen of swampy land throughout the 

 eastern half of the country from Canada to the Gulf. 

 In the same class is a well-known woolly Milkweed 



1 Cheanut, "Plants Used by the Indians of Mendocino Co., Cali- 

 fornia." 



215 



