134 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



for cordage. It is a small tree, 12 to 15 feet, found in Mysore, Bombay, and the 

 Deccan. A liber prepared from the hark is made into ropes, used in Malabar tor 

 dragging timber from the forests. It is very strong, and samples are said to have 

 supported more than 600 pounds. C. latifolia affords similar fiber: used for rope, 

 coarse cloth, twine, and netting. 



Cordyline australis. Foksteb's Palm Lily. 



This genus of erect-stemmed, shrubby, palm-like Liliacece are found in tropical 

 Africa, in Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands, in the Malayan Archipelago and 



Australia. 



Guilfoyle enumerates nine species in his Australasian list from which he has 

 extracted liber, as follows: C. australis, C. australis var. lineata, C. bdnksii, C. baueri, 

 C. coolii, C. indirisa, C. stricla, C. terminalis, and C. veitcliii. 



The most common in the botanical and other gardens of Melbourne is ''Forster's 

 Palm Lily" (C. australis), one of the New Zealand species. Under favorable cir- 

 cumstances it grows to a height of 30 to 40 feet, and the leaves afford a large per- 

 centage of excellent, strong fiber. With proper attention this plant will yield a 

 good crop of leafage in its fourth or fifth year; and, as it will grow vigorously in 

 land subject to partial inundation, it can be utilized in places otherwise compara- 

 tively useless. It seeds freely, and can therefore be extensively propagated, so that 

 a young plantation maybe always coming on to supersede the old one when the 

 latter becomes unprofitable. (Guilfoyle.) Fig. 1, PI. VI, shows this species. From 

 a small plant growing in the United States Botanical Garden. 



Cordyline banksii. 



C. jmmila (error for pumilio) of my report, in Ann. Rept. U. S. Dept. Ag., 1879, 

 this name having been attached to the label accompanying the specimen of fiber 

 obtained from the Phil. Int. Exh., 1876. Habitat: New Zealand. The fiber from this 

 plant is another of Dr. Guilfoyle's preparations. The native name is Ti-rauriki. 

 "The leaves of this interesting species of Cordyline grow to a great length and yield 

 an abundance of fiber of long staple, suitable for ropes, mats,"' etc. It is also con- 

 vertible into a good quality of paper. The fiber is from 21 to 3 feet in length, straight, 

 white, and glossy, but very stiff, resembling fiber of Yucca or Agave, and seems to 

 have been extracted in coarse bundles of filaments, which must be hackled 1o be 

 reduced to anything like fineness. It is fully as strong as Yucca fiber, and would 

 make excellent rope of great tenacity. 



< . banksii, Sir Joseph Banks's Palm Lily, attains a height of about 10 feet, and 

 throws out leaves of 3 or 4 feet in length. The fiber is long in staple and of great 

 strength. Like the first-named species, the seeds are produced in great abundance, 

 and, especially on irrigated land, it will grow rapidly in this colony, as under these 

 conditions two or even three strippings of the outer leaves might be made in a year. 

 (Guilfoyle.) 



* Specimens. — Mus. U. S. Dept. Ag. 



Cordyline indivisa. The Tall Pal3I Lily. 



Fiber and tow of this species were also received from the Victorian collection, Phil. 

 Int. Exh., 1876, prepared by Dr. Guilfoyle. They are not as fine as the preceding, 

 however, though possessing considerable strength. A very rudely manufactured 

 rope from the last-named species accompanies the collection. This liber, however, 

 is darker colored, and possesses little of the beauty of the preceding example, which 

 has been carefully prepared. Neither Royle nor Vetillart makes mention of this fiber, 

 though it is named in Bernardin's Catalogue. 



The leaves attain a length off feet, and a breadth off to 5 inches, and contain an 

 abundance of fiber, which diverges from the center to the edge and top of the leaf. 

 It is therefore shorter than the leaf and not of the same strength throughout ; but 

 it is prepared with greater car.- than the New Zealand llax | Phormium tenax), and 





