Fiber plant

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Useful hemp plants

In agriculture, fiber plants are all plants that are or could be grown mainly to obtain their fibers . Different parts of the plant can be relevant for fiber production , whereby a distinction is made between seed fibers, bast fibers and leaf fibers.

Overview

(see also article fiber and natural fiber )
Ripe, opened cotton bolls
Drying of sisal fibers

All vegetable fibers consist of different proportions of cellulose , lignin , pectin , hemicellulose , other water-soluble substances and sometimes wax . Their exact composition can be very different. An important distinguishing feature is the degree of polymerization (often also DP = Degree of Polymerization) of the cellulose, i.e. the number of glucose residues . This has a great influence on the fiber properties. For example, the fiber strength increases with the degree of polymerization. Plant fibers have different properties, depending on the type and part of the plant. They occur as vascular bundles in the stem or trunk , in the bark ( e.g. as bast ) and as seed extensions. In the case of bast and leaf fibers, they serve to reinforce the plant parts; in the case of cotton, the seed hairs serve to spread the seed with the wind.

The following list shows the different vegetable fibers (the abbreviations in brackets indicate the valid abbreviations according to DIN 60001-1 textile fibers ):

Wood is not counted among the fiber plants, although fibers, the wood fibers , can also be obtained from them .

The leaf fibers and the coconut fibers are also referred to as hard fibers by trade and the textile industry .

Pineapple as well as Curauá and Caroá belong to the bromeliad family . Their use for fiber production is less well known and is now mostly a by-product of the cultivation for the production of the fruit. In addition to the sisal agave, there are a number of other fiber-producing species from the agave family, which, among other things, belong to the genus Furcraea . These are also known as Mauritian hemp. The use of the terms hemp and flax for fiber plants that are actually not related to them is common (see examples above) and can easily lead to confusion. In addition, various rush grasses , split bamboo and other plants are used as fiber. Bast remnants from linden and oak represent the most common finds of Neolithic fiber remains. The long fibers of these tree species were used as a material for making baskets , mats and cords .

Fiber plants and plant fibers from Central Europe

The fiber plants or plant fibers of Central Europe include all fiber plants that are found in Central Europe, e.g. B. Germany, good (climatic conditions) can be grown. The following list mentions all plants that can be used for fiber production.

Peat fibers

use

Natural fibers are mainly used for clothing
Inner door trim made of hemp fiber reinforced plastic (matrix polyethylene PE)

Fiber plants were and are used to manufacture textiles for clothing , but also for technical purposes such as packaging (e.g. jute sacks) or insulating material (e.g. thermal insulation ). In this area, plant fibers compete with natural animal fibers and man-made fibers .

Vegetable fibers can also be used to make pulp and wood-free paper. Hemp used to play an important role here. Today, however, this need is mainly met with pulp made from wood. In addition to these traditional uses, vegetable fibers are also increasingly being used in natural fiber-reinforced plastics .

Cultivation worldwide

The following table gives an overview of the worldwide cultivation areas of fiber plants based on the information from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). For information on fiber production see the article natural fiber . In Germany only hemp (varying between 800 and 2000 ha), flax (approx. 50 ha) and fiber nettle (265–300 ha) are grown on fiber plants.

Worldwide acreage of individual fiber plants (2005)
plant  Cultivated area 
(in million ha )
cotton    34.74
jute    1.31
flax    0.52
Sisal    0.39
Jute-like fiber plants, e.g. B. Kenaf    0.29
Abaca    0.15
ramie     0.11
hemp    0.06
other agaves, e.g. B. Henequen    0.05

History of fiber plants

cotton

Cotton has been used to make light clothing for thousands of years, especially in tropical areas. Some sources claim that the Egyptians began around 12,000 BC. Would have worked with cotton. In Babylon , cotton was called white gold . Cotton clothes that are around 7,000 years old have been found in Mexican caves. The oldest record on cotton comes from India . Cotton has been grown here for more than 3,000 years and is mentioned in the Rigveda (around 1,500 BC). Around 1000 years later, the Greek historian Herodotus (490/480 to 424 BC) wrote about Indian cotton: “There are trees growing in the wild, from whose fruit you can obtain wool that is far superior to the beauty and quality of sheep's wool. The Indians make their clothes from this cotton ”.

preserved remains of an ancient linen fabric from the Dead Sea

linen

Linen was systematically processed in Egypt , Mesopotamia and Phenicia , among others , 6,000 to 7,000 years ago. Egyptian mummies are wrapped in strips of linen. It is possible that linen processing existed 10,000 years ago. From Greek and Roman antiquity to the European Middle Ages , linen, along with wool , was the material for clothing. In the Middle Ages, linen was mainly produced in Swabia , Silesia and Alsace .

Linen had its heyday in pre-industrial Europe. When cotton was not imported in large quantities, linen was the most important vegetable fiber in Europe. By the end of the 18th century, around 18% of the fibers processed were from flax and around 78% from wool. For a long time linen was only processed by hand , later industrial methods were added. Up until the 20th century, hand-spun, but also machine-spun yarn was woven by hand on hand looms. The linen was mainly processed in Ireland , Holland , Westphalia , Saxony , Silesia and Bohemia .

hemp

Hemp is one of the oldest useful plants in the world. In China it was used at least 10,000 years ago. “Ma”, as the Chinese called the hemp, not only provided them with tasty and nutritious seeds, the stems with their particularly long and almost indestructible fibers were also appreciated early on. Via India and the ancient civilizations in today's Iraq, hemp began its triumphal march around the world. In Europe, the oldest finds are around 5,500 years old and come from the Eisenberg area (Germany). From the area of ​​today's Lithuania come finds of hemp seeds (approx. 2500 BC) and a hemp thread (approx. 2300 BC). As mentioned by Herodotus (450 BC), the ancient Greeks and their Egyptian neighbors often dressed in clothes made from hemp fabric. Hemp and flax were the most important fiber crops in Europe for a long time. The Scythians in what is now southern Russia have been around since 700 BC. The cultivation of ruderal hemp as a useful plant and the manufacture and export of ropes are known. The versatile plant has never been forgotten over the centuries. The Merovingian Queen Adelheid , who was buried in AD 565, was found dressed in a hemp dress that would accompany her into eternity. Emperor Charlemagne passed the first hemp law around 800 AD with his " Capitulare ". It obliged its subjects to cultivate this raw material, which was important in times of peace and war. Many medieval weapons, such as the longbow , whose tendons were made of hemp, could not have been made without the robust and resilient hemp fiber, which can withstand enormous tensile forces.

Illustration of hemp from 1885

Another application of hemp fiber found its way to Europe via Spain in the 13th century - paper manufacture . At that time, wood could not be used, so that hemp was the most important raw material for paper production , along with rags , which themselves often consisted of hemp. The first paper mill on German soil was built in Nuremberg in 1290 . Gutenberg printed his famous Gutenberg Bible on hemp paper in 1455 and the American Declaration of Independence from 1776 is still preserved because it was written on almost indestructible hemp paper. Hemp ropes and canvas made from hemp were important in shipping because the fiber is very resistant to salt water and absorbs little water. Cotton sails would be so heavy in the rain that the masts could break. Flax linen was also a poor substitute because, unlike canvas made of hemp, it rots within a few months on contact with water. Venice achieved its supremacy as an important trading center in the Middle Ages due to the high quality of the rope making . In southwest Germany, hemp cultivation declined with the advent of tobacco growing, which was more profitable for farmers, and with the importation of sisal fibers and, with a few exceptions, practically came to a standstill by the First World War. In the middle of the 20th century, synthetic fibers , especially those made by DuPont , displaced hemp from textile production.

nettle

(see also article fiber nettle and nettle cloth )

The stem of the old nettle plants in particular has very long and strong bast fibers . Nettle thread, also known as nettle thread, was made from these thousands of years ago. For example - together with birch pitch  - arrowheads and feathers were attached to arrow shafts, as is shown by finds from the 3rd and 4th centuries AD from Nydam and Thorsberg in the State Archaeological Museum in Schleswig . The fibers are also suitable for the manufacture of fabrics such as nettle cloth , which is stronger than linen, as well as for fishing nets and ropes . The individual fibers of the nettle can be a maximum of 250 millimeters, in cultivated forms one could achieve an average fiber length of 52 millimeters. After the type of fabric was out of use for decades, it has recently been offered again by a company in Germany.

Coconut fiber

Plant fibers are also obtained as a by-product, for example when growing coconut palms . Coconut fibers are extracted from the mesocarp of unripe fruits, which can be processed into yarn. These are fiber bundles that are separated from the surrounding tissue by pectin breakdown by microorganisms. To do this, the mesocarp is first detached from the stone core and then stored in the water for several months to break down the pectin , known as "roasting". The brackish waters of lagoons have proven their worth . Today, however, tanks are widely used. After this "roasting process", the fibers are traditionally loosened by tapping, or today by machine, and sorted by color and fineness while still moist. They consist of around 45% lignin and around 44% cellulose. Coconut fibers are traded under the name Coir . They are used to make ropes, mats, carpets and wall coverings. The center of the coconut fiber industry is Sri Lanka and south-west India . The Indian state of Kerala alone supplies over 100,000 tons of Coir per year.

literature

  • Julius von Wiesner, S. Zeisel: fiber plants . In: J. v. Wiesner: The raw materials of the plant kingdom Volume 3, W. Engelmann, Leipzig (1921)
  • Bibliography at Biodiversitylibrary.org

Web links

Wiktionary: fiber plant  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Robert R. Franck (Ed.): Bast and othe plant fibers . Woodhead, Cambridge UK 2005, ISBN 1-85573-684-5
  2. ↑ Tobler, Friedrich: German fiber plants and plant fibers. Munich, Berlin, JF Lehmanns Verlag, 1938
  3. ↑ Lein - history in: Microsoft Encarta
  4. ↑ Ute von Reitzenstein: Flax in the 20th century from an ecological and economic point of view ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Skilled work  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.baumann-online.de