BIOB38H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Manila Hemp, Parchment Paper, Sisal
Document Summary
Lecture 12 biob38 plants and society: hard or leaf fibers in monocot leaf vascular bundles (sisal, manila hemp", pineapple, sisal (agave sisalana, grow tall and are harvested once a year. Rough fibers used for ropes: manila hemp (musa textilis, leaves are retted and cleaned. Chinese invention of fiber-based paper: 105 ad: first paper out of individual fibers (mulberry bark, hemp, rags, fish nets, china keeps it secret for 600 years, 750 ad: first paper made outside of china. Printing press invention fuels paper hunger: 1450: gutenberg invents printing press, 1487: almost every european country prints large quantities of books increased paper need, 1495: first paper mill in england (hemp, cotton, linen) Increased shortage of fibers: 1600"s - 1700"s: renaissance increasing literacy surging demand for paper, 1666: british law forbidding burial of dead in cotton and linen. Paper production, new: mechanical: based on wood fibers, not sclerenchyma cells but xylem (shorter and less elastic than true fibers).
