Floss, Fibre and Net - Specimen details
| Catalogue Number: 49267 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Plant Name | 107.00 ASCLEPIADACEAE Calotropis procera | Entry Book Number | 39.1915 | |
| Artefact Name | Floss, Fibre and Net | Vernacular Name | |||
| Iso Country | India | TDWG Region | India | ||
| Parts Held | Floss, Fibre and Net | Geography Description | India, Sindh | ||
| Uses | Floss, Fibre and NetUse: MATERIALS - Fibres User: Man | TDWG use | MATERIALS - Fibres | ||
| Storage | Bottles, boxes etc | Related Items | |||
| Donor | Henderson Dr G | Donor No | |||
| Donor Date | Donor Notes | ||||
| Collector | Collector No | ||||
| Collection Notes | Collection Date | ||||
| Exhibition | Expedition | ||||
| Number Components | Publication | ||||
| Notes: | Label source: Fibre from the stem of C. sp. Part of fishing net made of the fibre. G W Ryan? Camp via Karachi 25 Nov. 1911. Opuscular source: Memo re: Calotropis procera presented by Dr G Henderson, Orford, Kent. Coll in India. I forward today to show a, t some meeting, specimens of a Calotropis which grows in desert ground all over India and produces a most valuable fibre, the milky juice has been tried for a sort of rubber, and the pods produce a fibre like cotton. I am indedted to Mrs Young's husband l, ately Commissioner for Sind and to the officers of the Sind Forest Dept. for these specimens. I obtained them at the request of a firm interested in fibres. The two or three species of Calotropis grow in the hottest and most arid deserts, all over India.T, he plants come to maturity in one year but are perennial. Neither camels or goats will eat the leaves unless very very hungry. At page 307 (near the bottom) of Forbes Royles? Fibrous Plants of India you will find it stated that the plant thrives in dry sa, nd. The specimens include:- the dried plants (not rec'd. at Museum J.M.H. 19.XI.15) - Fishing nets made from stem fibre - cotton from the pod - fibre from the stem. I suggested to the Young husband that he should make an experimental plantation closely pl, anted so as to get long straight stems, and see if the fibre could not be cleaned by some of the machines now used in East Africa for cleaning Sisal fibre and also New Zealand flax. The fibres said to be one of the strongest known, and the only objection, to it is the difficulty of extracting it which has hither to been done by hand, without any machinery. After showing the specimens please forward them to Kew with this letter unless you wish to dispose of them otherwise. (Letter Dr G Henderson, Orford, K, ent, April 27, 1915 to the Sec. Linnean Society.) | ||||