DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



161 



Since the Chicago Exposition kapok has come into use commercially in this coun- 

 try, being employed as an upholstery fiber. 

 * Specimens. — Mus. IT. S. Dept. Ag. 



Eriodendron samauma. 



Flourishes along tbe river banks of portions of Brazil, particularly the Rio Negro. 

 "It is the tallest and most flourishing tree of tbe Amazon forests, attaining over 120 

 feet in height, with a diameter difficult to be calculated in consequence of the 

 number of hard roots that in the form of a star proceed from tbe base of the trunk. 

 When young the tree has thorns that disappear when it attains its full growth. 

 These thorns are used as ornaments among some of the Indian tribes. The Indians 

 of the upper Purus weave and make mats of the fiber." (From a Catalogue of Forest 

 Products of Brazil, W. C. E., 1893.) "Silky, satin-like, and of an exceeding tenuity 

 and beauty are the cottons which in- 

 volve the seeds of the capsular fruits 

 of monguba .and samauma — Bombax mun- 



guba, Mart ; and Eriodendron samauma. 

 Raw material of great abundance, and 

 already utilized in Brazil for the manu- 

 facture of costly threads and twists, it 

 contains an invaluable substitute for 

 beaver for velvety and luxurious felts." 

 (Notes on the State of Para.) 



This fiber was also met with at the 

 Phil. Int. Exh., 1876. The tree was 

 stated to be the largest in the Amazon 

 region, "the fruit containing a silk 

 much sought after for mattresses" (De 

 Gama). 



Eriolasna hookeriana. 



It is said that the bast of this Indian 

 species of Sterculiacece yields a good 

 fiber, examples of which were sent to 

 the Paris Exposition, 1878, and to the 

 Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886. 



Eriophorum comosum. Cot- 

 ton Grass. 



Endogen. Cyperaceai. Sedge-like 

 perennial herb. 



Common in India, allied species 

 abound in Europe. 



Structural Fiber. — A silky grass, 

 the fibrous leaves of which are employed 

 locally in India for twine, cordage, and 

 even for rope bridges, though such ropes 



do not last over a year. ' ' The fiber yielded by this plant forms a small portion of what 

 is exported to the plains under the name bhdbur ,, ( Watt). The true bhdbur is Isclice- 

 mnm angustifolium, which see. In the Kew Bulletin for July, 1888, is found an 

 article on the Ischcemum, from which it would appear that E. comosum has been con- 

 founded with Andropogon involutus and the true bhdbur, and that only a small part 

 of the bulk of grass used by the natives in rope making is from E. comosum. Fig. 53 

 illustrates E. angustifolium, Europe. For further accounts see Die. Ec. Prod. Ind., 

 Vol. Ill; Bull. Royal Gardens, Kew, July, 

 12247— No. 9 11 



Fig. 54.— The lesser cotton grass, Eriophorum 

 lati folium. 



