Lecture # 16 Plant Fiber Materials:Cloth and Paper, Herbs and Spices Ch 18, 17

1. Fiber Definitions
   1. Botanical fiber-cell
   2. Commercial- long flexible material
   3. Nutritional- indigestible material in food
2. Types of commercial fibers
   1. Textile fibers
      1. Surface- from seeds, leaves, fruits
      2. Soft or Bast- Phloem
      3. Hard or leaf- vascular bundles
   2. Papermaking fibers
      1. Single cells of cotton or wood
   3. Other
      1. Filling-kapok
3. Cotton-Gossypium-Economically the most important non-food crop
   1. Domesticated in both new and old world
   2. Obtained from the cotton seed
   3. Processing initiated the industrial revolution
   4. Seed is used for animal food and oil
4. Flax – Linum-Source of Linen
   1. Oldest plant fiber- 10,000yrs
   2. Proccessing-Video
5. Minor textile fibers-Raime, Hemp, Jute, Kapok
6. Paper
   1. Wood pulp- slurry of water and wood fibers
   2. Very polluting industry
   3. Japanese paper making- Video
7. Spices and Herbs
   1. Herbs= leaves, Spices=other plant parts
   2. Spice Trade drove exploration
   3. Old World Spices- Cinnamon, Black pepper, Ginger Cloves, Nutmeg
   4. New World Spices- Chile pepper, Vanilla, Allspice
   5. Herbs
      1. mint family-basil, oregano, rosemary
      2. parsley family- parsley, dill, cilantro, anise, celery
      3. mustard family- mustard