DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 93 



Palmyra now has practically taken the place of west African bass. The latter on 

 the 16th of September, 1895, was "dull, business small, £14 to £23 per ton." Pal- 

 myra fiber on the other hand was: "Good, £26 to £34; medium, £22 to £25; com- 

 mon, £15 to £19 per ton" (Dr. D. Morris). 



The fiber extracted from the leafstalks is used for rope and twine making, and 

 may also be used for paper. This fiber is strong and wiry, and is about 2 feet long. 

 In Ceylon it is extracted and the ropes and string largely used for cattle yokes and 

 other agricultural purposes are made of it. In Madras it is also made into rope and 

 twine. In Bengal the trees are too scattered to admit of an extended trade in this 

 fiber. The long cord-like and dark-colored fibrovascular bundles are carefully 

 extracted, however, while preparing dugouts, etc. By the fishermen these are made 

 into invisible fish traps. (Watt.) Employed in the United States as a brush mate- 

 rial, and imported in bundles of prepared fiber. 



Every part of the plant is employed in one way or another, some 800 uses having 

 been enumerated. Further accounts in the Die. Ec. Prod. Ind. ; Cantor Lectures, 

 London, 1895. 



* Specimens of the fibers were received from the Ceylon court, W. C.E., 1893. 



Bowstring hemp (see Sansevieria). 



Brachystegia, spp. Uganda Bark Cloth Trees. 



Exogens. Leguminosw. Trees, 20-50 feet. 



Native names: The several species are known variously as Mecomba, Matondo, 

 Motondo, M'Chenga, and others. 



Found in the Uganda country, Africa, several species being referred to in the Bul- 

 letin of the Royal Kew Gardens for 1892, from which this account is reproduced. 

 The trees produce a bark cloth. 



Bast Fiber. Messrs. Speke and Grant, in their expedition to the sources of the 

 Nile, 1860-1863, made some interesting notes on the preparation and uses of cloth 

 from this source. They say of Brachystegia spico?formis Benth., that it is a light, 

 graceful tree of 20 to 40 feet high, common in rich forests, and is known in the 

 Robeho Mountains, Zanzibar, under the name of "M'chenga" or " M'nenga" the bark 

 of which is made into kilts, cloths, bandboxes, huge grain stores, matches, roofing 

 for camp huts, etc. ; they also add that a blood-red juice exudes on cutting the bark. 

 These same explorers collected slight herbarium material at Keegwah, in lat. 5° 5' 

 S., of what is so far determined as Brachystegia tamarindoides Welw. var. ? With the 

 following note: "Native name i Mecombo, 1 a first-class tree, as it has so many uses. 

 Tree 50 feet high; long, naked trunk 9 feet in circumference. Foliage deep green. 

 The wood is considered good for building. Its bark, after being boiled and prepared, 

 is made into white sheets of cloths worn by the natives at 10° S. They also make 

 canoes, boxes, matches, and ropes from it. Its honey is considered very superior in 

 flavor and whiteness. First met with 30 miles from the sea ; afterwards in the interior 

 it was frequent. It is so plentiful at 6° S. lat. that our temporary huts were roofed 

 with its bark, and my plants were protected by planks of its bark, which answered 

 admirably, being light and stiff." During Livingston's Zambesi expedition, in 1860, 

 Sir John Kirk collected specimens of Brachystegia appendiculata Benth., a tree of 20 

 to 40 feet high in the highlands of the Batoka country, where it is known by the 

 name of "Motondo" (Setoka), the seeds being eaten by the natives; he also collected 

 the same species near Muata Manja, 14° 19' S. lat., and states that the fibrous bark 

 is made into cloth by being beaten out. According to Dr. Meller, this tree is known 

 as " Chenga" near Zomba. The herbarium contains a specimen of Brachystegia longu 

 folia Benth., collected by Mr. J. Buchanan in the Shire highlands, and bears the 

 following label: "Njombo. Bark-cloth tree, wood very soft." Another herbarium 

 specimen collected by Sir John Kirk near Kusuma, on the river Shire, is labeled 

 Brachystegia, sp. nov., and is described as being a good-sized tree with a fibrous bark, 

 which is used for cloth. 



