botanicolor

the ethnobotanic
of fibres and dyes

by luminousgreen


Natural Dyes

Natural Fibers

plant fibres
retting
cotton
cotton plants
flax
hemp
sisal
ramie
piņa & abaca


Sources - Quellen
Piņa


In the Phillipine Islands local people weave shirts, scarves and traditional costumes from the superfine fibres of the pineapple plant.



Ananas comosus Merr.
Bromeliaceae
Pineapple

Originally pineapple is not an Asian plant; the culture and selection of the pineapple for fruit and fibre began with the rainforest peoples of Central America and the Carribbean. These plants are known as pina and the leaves of some varieties reach tow meters in length. Plants developed for fibre production have only small, sour fruits which are cut from the plants before ripenning.



Pineapple fibres are beige-white, soft and as fine and glossy as human hair.The extraction of the fibres is a lengthy process and requires an experienced hand. Traditional methoods involve scraping the fibrebundles from the leaves with pottery shards and tools made of coconut hull.


In the 19th Century Pina industries in the Philipines experienced a rennaisaince under the influence of the Spanish Colonialists. Fine pina fibres were in worldwide demand. However the introduction of cheap cotton fabrics ruined almost the entire market for abaca textiles and with the growth of the cane sugar industry in the Phillipines pina production largely ceased. This is another example of a fascinating natural science and craftmanship which cannot compete with the global economy. Pina production today is limite dto a few cooperatives working partly with overseas development funding to revive traditional industries.



Abaca


Abaca
Manila hemp, Fibre banana

The indigenous Phillipine fiber banana delivers light, strong fibres which are extraordinarily resistant to seawater. The fibres are extracted from the leaf sheaths which form the central stem-like part of the babana stalk. After the dissolution of the fleshy leaf structure, banana fibres are dried and bleached in the sun.

Abaca is slow to rot and is much used for floating ship-ropes and fishing nets as well as for weaving hammocks, tea-bags and the well known Manilla paper. On the politically and socially instable south Philipine island of Mindanao several development projects are working with communities on the edge of the rainforest to introduce sound agricultural practice. The Growing of rattan and fiberbanana is being promoted to counteract the common practice of clearing forest for rice planting.Fiber banana is also useful as a shade plant when intercropped with coffee and as a non-timber forest product can be part of an ecological, economical, sustainable use of tropical forest resources.