260 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



Pennisetum alopecuros. 



A coarse perennial grass of central India, with strong, tough leaves, from which 

 ropes are made on Mount Ahu. 



Perezia wrightii. 

 Syn. /'. arizonica. 



Exogen. Compositoe. Perennial herh 1 to 3 feet. 

 Southwestern Texas to southern Arizona. 



Sukiai i: Fiber. — At the junction of the hranches with the roots, and covering 

 the greater part of the former, is a soft, silky substance, which is used hy the Apache 

 Indians in gunshot and other wounds to stop hemorrhages, for which it is well 

 adapted. {Dr. E. Palmer.^ 



Periploca aphylla. 



An asclepiadaceous shruh of India, Persia, Arahia, and Xnhia. The fiher resists 

 water, and for this reason "is employed in Sind, with that of Leptadenia spar turn, for 

 making into ropes and hands used for wells.*' {l)r. Stocks.) Savorgnan also mentions 

 P. laevigata, the jieluria, or down, from the fruit of which is utilized as quilts for heds. 



Peteria (Braz.). See Furcrcea gigantea. 



Phalsa and Phalsi (Iud.), Pharsa and Phulsa (Hind.). See Grewia. 



Philodendron sp. Guembipi of Argentina. 



A genus of air plants found in tropical America, described as having scramhling 

 stems which attach themselves to trunks of trees. "An epiphyt with long aerial 

 roots. Fiher is prepared from the leaves, and the hark of the roots is used for ropes 

 that are indestructible in water." (Xiederlein.) Examples were shown, Argentina 

 exhibit, W. C. E., 1893. 



Philodendron imk, known as the Imbe in Brazil, is also enumerated in the list of 

 useful fibers in the State of Para. 



Phoenix dactylifera. The Date Palm. 



This palm, the cultivation of which goes back into the ages, is found in all tropical 

 eastern countries, and has been distributed to other lands. It has been introduced 

 into cultivation in Florida, in the United States, though wholly for its fruit. Its 

 native names are legion, but as it is more regarded for its fruit than its fiber, and 

 many of its names refer to the fruit, it is not important to enumerate them. 



Structural Fiber. — According to Royle, the natives of Arabia and the north of 

 Africa have long used the leaves for mats, baskets, etc., and the foot stalks of the 

 leaves for cordage. In the Die. Ec. Prod. Ind. the following account is given 

 regarding the uses of the plant as fiber by the natives of that country. 



In the Panjab, mats, fans, baskets, and ropes are made from the leaves, which are 

 known as hhutrd, patlra, and khushab. The petioles (chhari) make excellent light 

 walking sticks, and, when split up, furnish material for making crates and baskets. 

 The fibrous network which forms the sheathing base of the petioles, called kabdl, 

 khajiir la holla, or khajur man), is used for making pack saddles for oxen, and the liber 

 separated from it for cordage. The bunch of fruit stalks, buhdrd } is said to make a 

 good broom, and is employed for that purpose in the Panjab. See chapter on " Uses 

 of libers," Introduction. 



The huts of the poorer classes are entirely constructed of its leaves : fche fiber (ft/) 

 surrounding the bases of their stalks is used for making ropes and coarse cloth, the 

 stalks themselves for crates, baskets, brooms, walking sticks, etc., and the wood for 

 building substantial houses. (See fig. 89.) 



Other species. — P. acaulis is the dwarf date palm. Rope is made from its broad 

 leaves, and it also supplies thatch material for native huts. Tim leaves of P. farin- 

 ifera are made into coarse sleeping mats in India, while the split petioles are fash- 



