120 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



Surface Fiber. — The seeds possess a short hut very soft and elastic floss, from 

 ■which fact the plant has received its specific name. This floss is much too short to 

 he of any service as a textile, hut, with the flosses of llombax malabaricum, Erioden- 

 dron avfractuosum, and Calotropis gigantea, it has been classed as a "silk cotton." 

 In some parts of India the floss of this tree is collected and used for stuffing pillows, 

 for which purpose it would seem hetter suited than the floss from llombax malabar- 

 icum, as it is not so liahle to get matted. It might he found serviceable as a gnn 

 cotton. (Watt.) 



Among South American species yielding silk cotton may he mentioned C. liibis- 

 coides, in Venezuela "called carncstolendas, i. e., Lent, the large yellow flowers 

 unclosing about that time" (Ernst). C. insigne is a native of Brazil. 



Cochlospermum tinctorium. 



Native of Yoruhaland, west Africa, where it is known as Fe-ru or Bawaye. " Bark 

 makes good rope, largely used as such by Yorubas and Houssas; plentiful; sufficient 

 supply for export; not cultivated." (Kew Bull., Aug., 1891). 



Cocoa, or Chocolate tree. (See Theobroma cacao.) 



Cocoanut fiber (see Cocos nucifera). 



Coco (see Cocos nucifera). 



Coco de mer (Seychelles). See Lodoicea callipyge. 



Coco de mono (Yenez). See Lecythis. 



Cocos butyracea. 



Endogen. Palmo?. 

 This is a United States of Columbia and Peruvian species, chiefly useful as yield- 

 ing a toddy. Dorca states that a fiber is extracted from its leaves fit for ropes and 

 coarse textures. C. oleracea gives a similar fiber. 



Cocos crispa. 



A Cuban palm, which appears to have been more or less confounded with ./ crocomia 

 lasiospatha by. past writers on West Indian fiber-producing plants. Squier describes 

 the Corosol, CoyoJ, or Corojo palm of Cuba, while Bernardin mentions the Corojo de 

 la tena, Cuba, as Cocos urispa, doubtless a misprint for crispa. Dr. Ernst refers 

 Corozo to Elccis melanococca. In my list, published in the Ann. Rept. U. S. Dept. Ag., 

 1879, p. 551, the fiber referred to under the name C. crispa has since beeu determined 

 as the product of Acrocomia lasiospatlia. 



Cocos datil. 



A palm found in Argentina and particularly in Entre Rios. According to Nieder- 

 lein, the fiber is "used by the natives for the fabrication of baskets, hats, etc.," the 

 leaves being employed for this purpose. The Brazilian palm, known m common 

 parlance as datil, is another species. 



Cocos nucifera. Cocoanut. 



NATIVE Names. — The fiber is known to commerce as coir, kair, and cocoa liber. The 

 names of the plant are as various as the countries in which it grows. Among the 100 

 or more appellations that have been used to designate it, the following may be given 

 as representative: Iu the Malay Archipelago it is called Anocr ; Djai soi, in Borneo; 

 h'cJpo, etc., Java; Jouze-hiudie, Arab. ; Narkol, Xasil, etc., Beng. ; Oteri, New Guinea; 

 Sinlo-Eawa, Jap.; Nodi, Xali or Nari, Eera, Sanskrit, etc. See Xarel in Catalogue. 



There is hardly a tropical country on the face of the globe where the cocoa palm 

 docs not flourish, and it is impossible to ascertain its native country, though it is 

 thought to be indigenous in some parts of Asia, perhaps southern India. In the Coro- 



