196 



USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



source of profit to the cultivator, iu case the quality and cost of the fiber meet our 

 present expectations." Second Report of the Bureau of Statistics, Labor, and 

 Industries of New Jersey, 1880.) 



Although the plant is usually found, in a wild state, in marshes, or upon the mar- 

 gin of streams, or in low. wet places, experiments show that it will thrive upon 

 uplands as well. Thirty-five years ago rose mallow roots were taken from the place 

 of their natural growth and planted upon uplands on the Delaware River, with a 

 view to utilization of the liber, and for many years they held their own as tenaciously 

 as when mowing in their native swamps; and they may be growing upon these 

 uplands to-day, for all that is known to the contrary. 



^Specimen. — Mus. U. S. Dept. Ag. 



Fig. 63.— Leaves and blossoms of Hibiscus moschctdos. 



Hibiscus mutabilis. The Changeable Hibiscus. 



A native of China, but largely cultivated in India, and distributed to other coun- 

 tries. It grows in Trinidad and is known as the White Mahoe. Shalapara is one of 

 the Indian names of the plant. 



FIBER. — Hart says: --An introduced tree (iu Trinidad) giving a poor bast liber." 

 Watt says: "The bark yields a strong fiber I in India), but from the inner layer soft 

 and silky, that from the outer layer hard and of a lead color. v Roxburgh considered 

 it inferior for cordage purposes. 



Hibiscus sabdariffa. Kozelle Hemp. 



This is the "Jamaica Indian Sorrel," the plant which furnishes the " rozeUe" (or 

 oiselh) hemp of the Madras territories. In India it is a small bush, cultivated in 

 many portions of that country, its stems yielding a strong, silky fiber by retting the 



