52 
AGRICULTURIST, fjutv /, iHjr 
gives the place of growth as " Uitenhage, in woods 
" of Zwartkops and many other places in the east 
" of the colony ; Kai of the Hottentots ; a decoction 
" of the root used for dysentery." 
The leaves of this species, growing at Kew, were 
too small to be tested for fibre. 
5. Sansevieria zeylanica, Willd., is a very well 
known and well-marked plant. It is a native of 
Ceylon, and, long before Linnteus, was figured and 
described by Royen, Commelinus, and Pluknet. 
There are 8 or 10 leaves in a tuft and they are semi- 
circular in transverse section, 1 or 2 feet long, rounded 
on the back, deeply channelled down the face, J or 
?j inch thick in the middle, in colour dull-green, 
copiously banded with white, with a distinct red 
margin. The peduncle and flower spike are each about 
a foot long, the flowers being rather smaller than in S. 
guineensis, but quite similar in structure. It is well 
figured in Redoute's Liliaceas tab. 290, and in the 
Botanical Register, tab. 160, in the year 1816. 
In Oeylon this species is known under the Sinhal- 
ese name of Ncyanda. It is indigenous to the 
hotter parts of the island, and the fibre yielded by 
it is used in numerous ways, such as strings, ropes, 
mats, and of coarse kind of cloth. In India the 
plant is known as Moorva, Moorga, or Marool. Sir 
William Jones, in the Asiatic Researches, Vol. IV., 
p. 271, mentions S. ::eylanica under its ancient Sanscrit 
name of Moorva, and he says that : " From the leaves 
"of this plant the ancient Hindoos obtained a very 
" tough elastic thread called Maurvi, of which they 
"made bowstrings; and which, for that reason, was 
" ordained by Menu to form the sacrificial zone of 
" the military class." Dr. Roxburgh describes the plant 
as common on the jungly salt soils along the coasts, 
growing under the bushes, and easily propagated on 
almost every soil, from the slips which issue in great 
abundance from the roots, requiring little or no care, 
and not requiring to be renewed often, if at all, as 
the plant is perennial. The leaves, when thus cult- 
ivated, are from 3 to 4 feet long. 
Mr. Home makes the following note on this plant 
at Mauritius: — 
" Several species of Sansevieria are common here in 
"waste lands, near the sites of old gardens, and by 
" the road sides. They are not so readily nor so 
"cheaply established on land as the aloes vert. 
"But they yield a good fibre, which is used for 
" cordage &c. It has the reputation of being one of 
"the strongest of fibres. It is known by the name of 
" Bowstring heny} and Moorva." 
Generally in Ceylon and India the natives prepare 
fibre from this plant by retting or by simple beat- 
ing and scraping. Full grown leaves yield at the 
rate of 7'87 per cent, by weight of the green leaves. 
Owing to the smalluess of the individual leaves they 
are difficult to clean by machinery, but if it were 
possible to separate the fibre by a chemical process, 
this plant would become of great commercial value. 
Of samples of 8. zei/tanica fibre the Kew Museums 
contain one specimen from Ceylon, sent by Dr, G. 
H. K. Thwaites, under the name of Neyanda fibre : 
one labelled Moorga or Bowstring hemp, from Jamaica, 
from Mr. D. Morris, 1884, with the following note 
attached; — "Longest leaves 3£ to 4 feet long, narrow, 
"mottled, unarmed, very common, and Very easily 
"propagated either by root, suckers, portions of the 
"leaf, or seed." There are also samples from the 
JJotanic Garden, Mauritius, sent by Mr. Duncan 5 from 
Mysore, obtained from the India Museum, besides rope 
and twine from Balasore and twine from Outtack, 
likewise from the India Museum ; a Sinhalese whip 
and nose strings for harnessed bullocks from Kandy, 
sent by Mr. J. A. Ferdiuandus ; a sample of paper 
half stuff from the India Museum ; and some fibre, 
dyed in two colours (red and blue), from Madras 
by Dr. Hunter. 
Samplei Of fibre of S. zeylanica prepared at Jamaica 
by machinery in 1884, were described as follows by 
London brokers '.—(a) "Beautiful fibre, rather heavy 
"and hard, might be whiter, value very uncertain, 
"20?. to 307, per toD j " (b) "Rathor dull in colour 
"and tUort in growth, fajrly well cleaned, Value 
" about 301. per ton ;" (c) " Might be whiter. It is 
"almost too good for roping purposes. Worth about 
" 301. per ton." 
6. Of Sansevieria cylindrica, Bojer, an excellent 
figure and a full account by Sir William Hooker will 
be found at tab. 5,093 of the Botanical Magazine. 
It is a most distinct and curious looking plant. The 
leaves are cylindrical, round in horizontal section, 
faintly sulcate all round, especially in the young 
state, obtuse at the end, arching, reaching when fully 
developed a length of 3 or 4 feet and a thickness of 
about an inch. The peduncle is about a foot long ; 
the raceme much longer, with clustered cylindrical 
flowers just like those of guineensis in structure, but 
only about an inch long. It is spread across South 
Africa from Zanzibar to Angola. Our Kew plants 
were received by the Foreign Office from Angola in 
1859 under the name of Ife, and an abundant 
supply of its fibre and ship's cables and other ropes 
manufactured from it were shown in the Portuguese 
Department of the Paris Exhibition in 1858. 
In the description attached to the figure of the 
plant in the Botanical Magazine mentioned above, 
Sir William Hooker adds the following particulars : — 
"About three years ago (that is in 1857) there 
" were received at the Foreign Office, and transferred 
" to the Admiralty, samples of a peculiar fibre and 
" cordage under the name of Ife, said to be derived 
" from a new plant at the Portuguese Settlement, 
" Angola, west coast of Africa. These were accom- 
"panied by some apparently living plants, which 
'' were placed in the cellars of the Foreign Office, 
"and by the kindness of our valued friend, G. 
" Lenox-Coningham, Esq., forwarded to Kew, where 
" they soon recovered, and have since flowered. The 
" habit of the plant was that of Sansevieria, but the 
" leaves very dark-coloured, and quite terete and solid 
" in the interior, very unlike any known species of 
" that genus. My duties at the Paris Exhibition of 
" 1855 led me to the careful investigation of the 
'.' vegetable products, and I was there agreeably sur- 
" prised to find most extensive samples, in the Portu- 
guese Department, of the raw material fibre, and 
" manufactured articles, ship-cables, rope, beautiful 
" cordage, &c, of the same material, and amongst 
" ' The Products of Angola,' it is thus stated in my 
" 'Report': — 'Fibre marked, from Sansevieria ango- 
" 1 lensis, this latter being a MS. name of Dr. Wei- 
" ' witsch for a remarkable species of Sansevieria, 
" ' with long, stout, terete leaves, which is in cult- 
'* 'ivation at Kew. The cordage and rope made of 
" 'this plant appear to the eye of excellent quality, 
" 'whatever experience may prove them to be.' Ex- 
" periments recently made with this cordage have 
"shown it to be the strongest and best fitted for 
"deep-sea sounding of any fibre known; indeed this 
" is the less surprising, seeing that other species of 
" Sansevieria (the well-known 8. zeylaivca and guineensis, 
■ " for example) are cultivated in almost all tropical 
"countries on account of the strength and durability 
"of the fibre, under the name of Bowstring Hemp." 
Of samples of S. cylindrica fibre in the Kew 
Museums there is one specimen from Mauritius, sent 
by Mr, Duncan ; fibre of the Probo and rope and 
cordage made from it, probably S. cylindrica, Sierra 
Leone, Commodore A. Eardley Wilmot, H.M.S. 
" Rattlesnake," The following note accompanies this 
specimen 1 ~" Grows abundantly, can be easily pro- 
pagated." There is also a specimen labelled Mokhosi 
fibre and leaf, probably S. cylindrica, used for 
making cordage, &c, marked S, E. Africa, T, Baines, 
Esq. 
Specimens of fibre prepared from plants growing 
at Kew, by Death's fibre machine, were described by 
Messrs, Ide and Christie as follows :— " This is the 
" second best fibre amongst the samples sent, and except 
" that it does not appear as strong, it is almost equal 
" to 8. loiu/iflora. Value 28/. per ton." 
7. We have at Kew a dried specimen, as well as 
living plants, of 8. sulcata, which appears to be an 
unpublished name of Boger's. The plants, probably 
from East Africa, have never flowered, but in leaf 
character (bey are very similar to 8. cylindricctf 
