Fiber Plants
Vascular Cells
Cellulose Fibers
Plant Fibers
• The cell wall of the fiber cells – which is what gives them
their properties of strength and elasticity – are mostly
cellulose, although there may also be lignin, tannins, gums,
pectins and other polysaccharides present
• The most valuable fibers (for human use) are those that are
nearly pure cellulose and white – cellulose is an extremely
strong material, with tensile strength (resistance to tearing)
that is equal to that of steel – fibers with much lignin are
usually of poorer quality and are typical not as strong and
more brown in color
Classifying Fibers
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Fibers can be classified according to their use –
Fibers used to make cloth are textile fibers
Fibers to make rope are cordage fibers
Fibers used as stuffing are filling fibers
Natural fibers are made of plant or animal materials –
mineral fibers are made from things like asbestos
• Animal fibers like wool or silk are mostly protein while
plant fibers are mostly cellulose
• Some synthetic fibers are made up from natural materials –
rayon is made from cellulose wood pulp
Classifying Fiber II
• Plant fibers can also be classified by where they occur on
the plant –
• Surface fibers are found on the outer layers of leaves,
seeds or fruits – cotton is made from seed hairs covering
the surface of cotton seeds
• Bast or soft fibers are clusters of phloem fibers found in
the inner bark of some dicot stems – linen and ramie are
both bast fibers
• Hard fibers or leaf fibers are produced from the vascular
bundles or veins in leaves – they are usually made up of
both xylem and phloem and surrounding sheath fibers and
cells – these usually come from monocot leaves – sisal and
Manila hemp are examples
• Hard fibers usually have a higher lignin content than soft
fibers
Cotton
Early History of Cotton Use
• Cotton was one of the first fiber plants to be domesticated
by humans – its use originated in two different parts of the
world with at least 4 different species being regularly used
• Cotton was harvested from the wild in coastal areas of
Peru about 10,000 YA and was domesticated there by 4500
YA – from there its use spread and it was grown and used
by native peoples in the American Southwest
• In the Old World cotton cloth has been dated back 5000
YA – it was first grown on the Indian subcontinent and its
use spread westward to Assyria, Babylonia, Persia
(modern day Iraq and Iran) and then to Greece and Rome
(although Greeks and Romans preferred to use linen)
More Cotton History
• Cotton was especially well developed by Muslim peoples
in the Near East in the 9th and 10th Centuries and the term
muslin for a fine cotton cloth reflects that history
• Old World cotton was introduced to Florida in 1556 and it
was grown in Virginia beginning in 1607 – within 100
years, cotton was the most important crop in the southern
American colonies
• Cotton was at first a minor source of cloth in Europe until
the 18th century when Peruvian varieties were introduced –
they had longer seed hairs which allowed for better
spinning into cloth
• Major cotton producing countries are China, US, India,
Pakistan, former Soviet nations
Cotton Production
Gossypium hirsutum – upland cotton
Cotton Species
• The old world cottons are diploid species that produce
short fibers – G. herbaceum appears to have come from
southern Africa and gave rise to G. arboretum in India;
• The new world cottons are tetraploids that produce long
fibers – they may have arisen as a cross between G.
herbaceum and G. raimondii from Peru - how herbaceum
got to Peru is not clear
• G. hirsutum is the mostly commonly grown cotton in the
world – it is often known as upland cotton and probably
arose in Central America or Mexico; G. barbedense
originated in the Andes of Peru and is the oldest used form
of cotton
Cotton Genetics
Cotton Gin
Cotton Gin
Cotton Boll – Ready to Harvest
Cotton Bollworm
Use of Bt Cotton in South Africa
Traditional Cotton Harvest
Modern Cotton Harvest
Cotton Modules
Organic Cotton Production
Flax - Linum usitatissimum
History of Flax Use
• Linen may be the oldest fabric made from plant fibers –
Linen is made from flax Linum usitatissimum – the stem
fibers of flax, an annual plant, have been made to make
fabric for at least 10,000 years – flax fibers have been
found at sites of Swiss lake dwellers
• Flax was also used in Mesopotamia, Assyria, and
Babylonia
• Egypt developed a very extensive and sophisticated use of
flax – Egyptian linens dating back to 6500 YA have been
found – Egyptians used linen for clothing for priests and
royalty, to wrap mummies and exported to other countries
for use in making sails
Pleistocene Swiss Lake Village
More Flax History
• Ancient Greeks and Romans grew some flax
• There is even evidence of use of flax in prehistoric
American Southwest
• Flanders (part of Belgium) became a major
European center for growing flax, Ireland was also
a center for flax growing
• Today linen is used for only about 2% of the
world’s textiles
Flax Cultivation
• Two types of flax are grown – one for its seed oil
(linseed oil) and one for fibers – flax for fiber is
unbranched and grows to about 1 m tall
• Flax is a soft bast fiber composed of phloem cell
bundles – each flax stem typically contains about
15-40 fiber bundles –
• Fibers are preserved by pulling the plants up by
the roots either by hand or with a special machine
• Flax is gathered into bundles, left in the field to
dry
Egyptian Flax Harvest
Flax Harvest – Ireland 1948
Preparing Linen Fibers
• Linen is prepared by retting the stems – allowing
microbes to ferment on them – this can be done by
letting the stems sit in dewy conditions (4 to 6
weeks), putting them in ponds (about 2 weeks) or
in tanks of warm water (a few days)
• Retted fibers are dried and then broken (pounded)
to free the fiber from the stem
• Flax is then often bleached in the sun or by
chemicals
Dew Retting Flax
Linen Fibers
Linen Thread
Linen Fabric
Hemp – Cannabis sativa
Hemp Fabric
History of Hemp Fabric
• Hemp has long been a traditional source for fiber
for rope and clothing and even for paper
• Hemp fibers were used to make fabric as long ago
as 8000 BCE - the fibers are so strong that hemp
was woven to make ship’s sails from the 5th
century BCE until the mid-19th century
• Hemp was the major source of fiber for paper until
1883, when wood pulp replaced it
Chinese guide to making hemp
fabric - 1872
Hemp traditionally used in sailing
More Hemp History
• Hemp paper was used to produce Bibles from the first
Gutenberg Bible to the King James Bible
• Thomas Jefferson grew hemp for fiber; Thomas Paine’s
pamphlets were printed on paper made from hemp fiber;
the first and second drafts of the Declaration of
Independence were written on hemp paper imported from
Holland
• Hemp was commonly used to make cordage, lighting oil,
building materials, and now even plastic pipe has been
made from hemp
• During WW2, many farmers in the Midwest grew hemp
for fiber for ropes (cordage)
Hemp Paper
Hemp Declaration of Independence
Abaca or Manila hemp
– Musa textilis
Manila hemp
Manila hemp rope
Modern Uses of Cannabis Hemp
Hemp Cultivation
Modern Hemp Paper
Hemp clothes and fabric
Hemp Cordage
Hemp Seed – Food and Oil
Hemp Cosmetics
Plants and Human Culture
• “Nowhere has the effect of the use of plants on
human culture been more dramatic than in their
use to manufacture sea craft that transport people
and their crops across vast stretches of the ocean”
- Michael Balick and Paul Cox
Why study plants of Polynesia?
• In all traditional cultures the relationships of
plants and people are reciprocal and dynamic
• In traditional societies, most plant products are
collected, produced and consumed locally
• A variety of Plants allowed Polynesians to become
especially successful sailors
Long Ocean Voyages by Humans
• Erik the Red journeyed 800 miles from Iceland to
discover Greenland; his son Leif Eriksson went
farther sailing nearly 2000 miles from Greenland
to an area he called Vinland, which we know as a
part of Newfoundland in Canada
• Polynesians would commonly travel the 422 miles
from Fiji to Tonga or 769 miles from Fiji to
Samoa; Samoa to Tahiti (1059 miles) was not
unheard of; the longest trips were from Tahiti to
Hawaii (2700 miles) such trips did not occur
often, but occurred often enough to populate
almost all habitable islands in the Pacific and to
allow trade and exchange of culture across the
Pacific
Polynesian Islands
Polynesian Migrations
Tahiti with sailing canoes and other
ships – painted in 1773 by William
Hodges with Capt. Cook’s expedition
Boats on Island of Kabara
• The Camakau (thah-mah-cow) which is a singlehulled canoe of up to 15 meters in length and used
in inter-island transport and warfare
• The Drua (ndrro-ah) which has two hulls and
requires up to 50 men to sail it
• The Tabetebete (tahm-bay-tay-bay-tay) which is
the largest of all Fijian sea craft with an intricate
hull of fitted planks that could be up to 36 m long
and 7.3 m wide - these vessels could transport up
to 200 men, sail at 20 knots
A Drua built about 1900 on Fiji
Design of
a camakau,
traditional
Fijian oceangoing craft
Josafata Cama, traditional
shipwright of Kabara Island
Vesi tree – Intsia bijuga
Selecting Vesi trees for ship building
– Kabara Island
Hollowing out a Vesi tree trunk for a
canoe hull – Kabara Island
Vika Usu weaving a sail from
Pandanus leaves – Kabara Island
Pandanus odoratissimus
Young Pandanus
leaves
Canarium harveyi sap used for caulk
Kabara Islanders and Sandra
Bannock on first voyage of camakau
Old Ironsides – USS Constitution
Southern Live Oaks – Oak Alley,
Vacherie, Louisiana
Polynesian Migrations
Maori War Canoes 1827