82 



USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



hill tribes. Specimens of this fiber were exhibited at the London Exhibition of 

 1851 under the name of Patwa or Mawal. A large collection of strong red ropes 

 from it were also displayed at the Calcutta International Exhibition. Captain 

 lluddleston in his Report on Hemp in Garhwal, in 1840, gives the following facts: 

 •'The ' maloo' is a large creeper, 40 or 50 yards in length, and of considerable thick- 

 ness, from the bark of which a very strong rope is made. The natives chiefly use it 

 for tying up their cattle and sewing their straw mats with the fresh bark; it also 

 makes capital matches for guns, and muzzles for oxen and calves." It is "cut gen- 

 erally in July or August, though it may be cut all seasons, and the outer bark, being 



stripped off, is thrown away, the inner 

 coating being used for ropes, as wanted, 

 by being previously soaked in water and 

 twisted when wet. A large creeper will 

 produce a maund of fiber, called 'seloo.' 

 The bark before being used is boiled and 

 beaten with mallets, which renders it soft 

 and pliable for being made into ropes and 

 string for charpoys.'- (Watt.) See Spon, 

 Enc.,Div. 3, p. 921; Die. Ec. Prod. Ind., 

 Vol. I, p. -122; Ann. Rept. U. S. Dept. Ag., 

 1879, p. 528. 



Bauhinia splendens. 

 Creeper. 



The Chain 



Fig. 31.— Leaves of Bauhinia vahlii 



are about 1£ inches in diameter, 

 the muraro, which produces stron 



Native name. — Bejuco cle Cadena 

 (Venez.). Bejuco (Cent. Am.). 

 Grows wild in Brazil, Venezuela, and 

 South America generally. Samples of the 

 fibrous bark from the countries named 

 were received from the Phil. Int. Exh., 

 1876. "Found in hot, damp forests. The 

 stems are extremely flexible and tough so 

 that they can be used as cords, being more 

 durable than iron nails, which in the damp 

 atmosphere rust very soon and give way." 

 (Ernst.) 



Specimens of heavy cordage from this 

 species exhibited in the museum of the De- 

 partment were made by twisting together 

 the unprepared strips of bark as peeled 

 from the plant. The ribbon-like strip is 

 very dark, almost black, and the cordage 

 is of the coarsest description. The cables 

 In the handbook of Para. Bauhinia is referred to as 

 ;• libers for ropes. Also found in Costa Rica. 



Beach grass (see Ammophila). 



Bear grass (see Yucca and Dasylirion). 



Beaumontia grandiflora. 



Exogen. Apocynacece. Evergreen climber. 



India, east and north Bengal. From Nepal eastward to Sikkim, Sylhet, and Chit- 

 tagong, ascending to 4,000 feet elevation. 



SURFACE FIBER. — "It furnishes the best seed hairs yet known, though least util- 

 ized. The fiber is said to be not only the most lustrous and most purely white of all 



