. Plants and their uses; an introduction to botany . Fig. 219.—Manila Hemp Plant {Mutid textilis. Banana Family, Musacea).Plant, flowers, and fruit. (Kew Bulletin.)—A tree-like perennial herbfrom the underground stem of which arise huge leaves whose over-lapping stalks make a trunk 6 m. or more in height, and support notonly the immense leaf-blades but the hea^•y cluster of flowers andfruit; leaves pale beneath; flowers inconspicuous, covered bj reddishbracts; fruit green, filled with numerous seeds. Native home, Philip-pine Islands. The leaves of the pineapple (Fig. Ill) yield a similar fiber
. Plants and their uses; an introduction to botany . Fig. 219.—Manila Hemp Plant {Mutid textilis. Banana Family, Musacea).Plant, flowers, and fruit. (Kew Bulletin.)—A tree-like perennial herbfrom the underground stem of which arise huge leaves whose over-lapping stalks make a trunk 6 m. or more in height, and support notonly the immense leaf-blades but the hea^•y cluster of flowers andfruit; leaves pale beneath; flowers inconspicuous, covered bj reddishbracts; fruit green, filled with numerous seeds. Native home, Philip-pine Islands. The leaves of the pineapple (Fig. Ill) yield a similar fiberof extraordinary strength and fineness. From the finest of 234 INDUSTRIAL PLANTS this is made the celebrated piha or pineapple-cloth of thePhilippines—said to be the most delicate and perhaps themost costlv of vegetable Fig. 220.—.Southern ( ii^neoides. Pineapple Family, Bro-mcliacea). A, plant in flower, gro-wing attached to bark. B, flower,enlarged. C, flower, cut vertically. (Wittmack.)—Perennial herba-ceous air-plant hanging from trees to a length of 1-2 m., withoutroots, covered with grajash scales through which water is absorbed;flowers yellow; fruit dry; seeds hairy. Native home, Southern UnitedStates to Brazil. Fig. 221.—Rush (./uncus fffusus. Rush Family, Juncacece). Plant inflower, J. Calyx, corolla, and stamens. Fruit. Seed, edge and sideviews. (Britton and Brown.)—Perennial herb .3-12 dm. tall, smooththroughout; flowers greenish; fruit dry. Native home, North Americaand Eurasia. The fiber extracted from the stem of the .so-called southernmoss (Fig. 220) by retting is strikinglj- like horsehair in ap-pearance and stiffness, and is largelj substituted for it MIXED FIBERS 235 a stuffing in upholstery. The whol(> plant also is used aspacking material. The .stra
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbotany, bookyear1913
