114 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



several stamens inserted into a hemispherical perianth, consisting of several united 

 scales. The female flowers consist of numerous ovaries in a similar cup. The tree 

 contains a milky juice, yielding caoutchouc. 



Bast Fiber. The Costa Rican exhibit, W. C. E., 1893, contained an interesting 

 collection of the tough, cloth-like hast from this tree, some of the examples measur- 

 ing 10 to 12 feet in length and 15 inches vide. The sheets of hast are similar to the 

 Damajagua hast from Peru and applicable to the same uses. 



Specimens: Phila. Com. Mus. 



Casuarina stricta. The Drooping She Oak. 



Exogen. Casuarinacece. 



These singular trees are met with most abundantly in tropical Australia and New 

 Caledonia, where, according to Dr. Bennett, they are called oaks. "They have very 

 much the appearance of gigantic horse tails (Equisetacece) , being trees with thread- 

 like jointed furrowed pendant branches. Their sombre appearance causes them to 

 be planted in cemeteries, where their branches give out a mournful sighing sound as 

 the breezes pass over them, waving at the same time their gloomy hearse-like 

 pinnies." C. stricta is common on the coast as well as the inland tracts of South Aus- 

 tralia, Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales. 



Fiber. — The stringy foliage formed by the cylindrical concrescence of the branch- 

 lets with the leaves can be converted into an excellent pulp for packing, and even 

 printing paper and millboard. The mechanical contrivances for preparing the pulp 

 are of particular ease. (Ferd. von Mueller). 



C. suberosa, the Erect She Oak, is restricted to Victoria and Xew South Wales. 

 The foliage in its use is akin to that of the former species. Different Casuarina occur 

 in the other Australian colonies, in south Asia and the Pacific Islands, but none of 

 the species has been employed before for paper manufacture, and consequently the 

 investigations instituted in Victoria may be found eveu of value in a country so 

 anciently industrial as China. (Ferd. von Mueller). 



C. muricata is a native of southern India, and C. equisetifolia is found in the South 

 Sea Islauds. The trees of these two species are valuable for many economic uses, 

 but are not particularly mentioned as fibrous. 



Catirina (Peru). See Attalea. 



Cat-tail flag (see TypJia). 



Cavanillesia plantanifolia. Yolandero. 



Exogen. Leguminosce. 

 Found in Panama and New Carthagena. "The inner bark affords a fiber much 

 resembling Cuba bast. It bleaches readily and makes a strong, white, opaque 

 paper." (Spon.) 



Cebu hemp (Phil. Is.). Musa textilis. 

 Cecropia peltata. Trumpet Tree. 



Exogen. Moracece. Tree, 50 feet. 

 Native name. — Embauba or umbauba. 



Native of AVest Indies and tropical South America. 



Fiber. — Produced from the inner bark of the young branches; said to be very 

 tough. Bernardin says the fiber is used in Brazil for sacks. In notes on the State 

 of Para, W. C. E., 1893, the fiber is claimed to be used for strong ropes and cordage. 



The Uaupe" Indians, who inhabit the Rio Uaupes, a tributary of the Rio Negro, 

 convert the hollow stems of this tree into a very curious kind of musical instrument, 

 a species of drum, called by them Jmboobas. They select a trunk 4 or 5 inches in 

 diameter, and cut off a piece about 4 feet long, removing the partitions and render- 

 ing the inside smooth by means of lire : they then <dose up the lower end with leaves 



