78 



USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



Bacaba (Braz.). See (Enocarpus bacdba. 



Bacona and Vacona (Alaurin. Pandanus utilis. 



Bactris setosa. 



Endogen. Palmce. A slender palm. 

 This genus of palms is found in the West Indies, Brazil, and other tropical regions 

 of South America. 

 STRUCTURAL Fiber. — The fiber of the leaves, known as Tecun (or Tecum) both in 



Peru and Brazil, is very strong, and 

 is used "for fishing nets and lines" 

 (Savorgnan), and "for hats, ropes, 

 hammocks, etc." (Dorca). 



The species appears in Bernardin's 

 Catalogue with the common name 

 Tecum, the fiber of which is "em- 

 ployed for hammocks and fillets." 

 See also Astrocaryum tucuma and A. 

 vulgare. B. maraja is another Bra- 

 zilian species mentioned in Notes on 

 the State of Para. W. C. E., 1893, as 

 supplying a useful fiber. 



Bactris integrifolia. 



A Brazilian species found on the 

 upper Rio Negro. The stem is 

 hardly so thick as the little finger, 

 and 9 or 10 feet high, smooth and 

 distinctly jointed. The leaves are 

 four or five in number, terminal, 

 entire, three or four times as long 

 as they are wide, and not very deeply 

 bifid at the end. The petioles and 

 their sheathing bases are thickly set 

 with long, flat black spines. The 

 spadices are very small, erect, and 

 two-l>ranched, growing from among 

 the persistent sheathing bases below 

 the leaves. The spathes are small, 

 erect, and persistent, clothed with 

 adpressed brown spines. The fruit 

 is small and globular and of a black 

 color. ( Wallace.) Not particularly interesting as a fiber plant, but serves to illus- 

 trate the group. (See fig. 30.) Refer to Guilielma s2)eciosa. 



Bagasse. 



The refuse of sugar cane after roller crushing, before the diffusion process had 

 been adopted. The following is from a report by the author issued in 1879: 



"Amongotherfibrous products named in reply to the circular sent to manufacturers 

 were samples of the bagasse of sugar cane and a series of the products derived from 

 it for paper manufacture. The raw product is obtained a1 the mills (Louisiana sugar 

 plantation) at abont $15 per ton, or three-fourth- of a .cut per pouud. The bagasse 

 from Louisiana cane is considered superior to that from the West Indies, from the 

 fact that it never reaches its real state of maturity, while the latter is not used until 

 quite ripe. The matured fiber is coarser and le-- flexible and strong." 



"Megasse, or Bagasse, the refuse of the sugar cane alter passing through the 



Fig. 30. — Bactris in U 



