160 



USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



India. Watt states that the hark 



Eriko (Yorub aland). Raphia vinifera. 



Erinocarpus nimmonii. 

 Exogen. Tiliacece. A tree. 

 Found in the Deccan and Bombay Presidency ; 

 is said to yield an excellent fiher for ropes. 



Eriodendron anfractuosum. White Cotton Tree. 



Exogen. Malvacecc. Tree, 50 to 60 feet. 



Native and common names.— The White Cotton Tree (Ind.) ; Kapok floss tree 



(Java); Imbul (Ceyl.); Thinoawle (Burm.); Safed-semal (Hind.) ; Shtvet simul 



(Beng.); Ceiba and pochote (Mex. and Cent. Aim); Pemm (Maya of Yucatan). 



According to the Flora of British India this species occurs in the forests of the 



hotter parts of India and Ceylon, and 

 has found its way to South America, the 

 West Indies, and tropical Africa. 



Surface Fiber. — The commercial 

 kapok of Java. Beautiful examples of 

 this substance, the most valuable of all 

 the silk cottons, seed hairs, or downs, 

 from the commercial standpoint, were 

 secured from the Holland exhibit, W. 

 C. E., 1893, though erroneously stated to 

 be the product of Calotropis gigantea. 

 Kapok, or the floss from the seeds of this 

 Eriodendron, "is, according to the pres- 

 ent demand, a fiber of great merit. The 

 modern trade in it was created by the 

 Dutch merchants, their supply being 

 drawn from Java. It is used in uphol- 

 stery, being too short a staple to be spun, 

 and. indeed, too brittle and elastic. But 

 these are the very properties that com- 

 mend the floss to the upholsterer. In 

 cushions, mattresses, etc., its elasticity 

 and harshness prevent its becoming 

 matted as in the case with simal floss 

 from Bombax malabaricum, and it is there- 

 fore considerably superior to that fiber. 

 Indeed, it is probable that the even still 

 shorter staple of Coclilosperum would in 

 time command a better price than that 

 of the simal. Like kapok it is very elas- 

 tic, the fiber springing up to its former 

 position the moment the weight is re- 

 moved from the cushion. With simal, on 

 the other hand, a very short time suffices to make a mattress assume permanently 

 a compressed condition, in which it occupies, perhaps, less than half its original 

 bulk, and at the same time becomes knotted. This necessitates the removal of the 

 stuffing to be teased or rudely carded." ( Walt.) While this species of silk cotton is 

 well known in tropical America, it does not seem to have reached commercial impor- 

 tance, as the only records regarding its utility refer to household uses by the natives 

 or country peoplo in the localities where produced. The Mexican specimens in the 

 Department collection came from the State of Oaxaca, and arc bright, soft, and lus- 

 trous with good elasticity. One of the native Mexican uses for this substance is for 

 candle wicks. See also Cottons (Silk Cottons) in alphabetical arrangement. 



Fig. 53. —Cotton grass, E riophorum angustifoliu m . 



