THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
119 
ing further into this interesting subject, a general reference 
may be given to the special articles on superstitions con- 
cerning plants and the weather that have appeared in the 
Chap. XIV of ^'Current Superstitions" (Vol. IV 1896 
of the Memoirs of the Am. Folk-Lore Society) by Mrs. 
Fanny D. Bergen, and Chap. XI of the same author's — "Ani- 
mal and Plant Lore" (Vol. VII, 1899 of said Memoirs) refer 
to this topic in particular. Mrs. Bergen's volumes are the 
most considerable collections of animal and plant superstitions 
made in England and America, and her numerous lists of 
American plant names (an important and interesting branch 
of folk-lore study) are the chief contributions of the sort in 
America. — Veritas. 
Commercial Bast. — Several of our most important tex- 
tile fibers, such as flax and hemp, are obtained from the soft 
bast of various plants, but it is seldom that this bast is so well 
developed in any species that it may be used like cloth without 
being woven. In the limes or lindens (Tilia) the bast is so 
well developed in the bark that the trees are often popularly 
known as bass-woods and mats are often made from the bark 
and used by gardeners for protecting cold frames, etc. The 
best known example of bast that is coherent enough to appear 
like cloth is no doubt the lace-bark tree (Lagetta lintearia) of 
the West Indies. This bark by soaking in water and beating 
may be separated into many regular layers as soft and white 
as lace and yet strong enough to be used in making party 
dresses. The bast that has the greatest use in manufactures, 
however, is a tropical India product. It is sometimes called 
nava fiber and it the product of Sterciilia Balanghas. As it 
comes to our markets it is a yellowish w4iite fabric a foot or 
more wide, often twenty feet long, and the best of it, as soft and 
delicate as good grades of cotton, though the meshes of the 
substance are much larger than those of cloth of like texture. 
The weaving of this bast, however, is entirely of Nature's 
