Kenaf
| Kenaf | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Malvales |
| Family: | Malvaceae |
| Genus: | Hibiscus |
| Species: | H. cannabinus |
| Binomial name | |
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Hibiscus cannabinus L. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Kenaf [etymology: Persian],Hibiscus cannabinus, is a plant in the Malvaceae family also called Deccan hemp and Java jute. Hibiscus cannabinus is in the genus Hibiscus and is probably native to southern Asia, though its exact origin is unknown. The name also applies to the fibre obtained from this plant. Kenaf is one of the allied fibres of jute and shows similar characteristics.
Other names include Bimli, Ambary, Ambari , Deccan Hemp, and Bimlipatum Jute.
According to Miyake and Suzuta (1937), there are more than 129 names for kenaf worldwide.
It is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant (rarely a short-lived perennial) growing to 1.5-3.5 m tall with a woody base. The stems are 1–2 cm diameter, often but not always branched. The leaves are 10–15 cm long, variable in shape, with leaves near the base of the stems being deeply lobed with 3-7 lobes, while leaves near the top of the stem are shallowly lobed or unlobed lanceolate. The flowers are 8–15 cm diameter, white, yellow, or purple; when white or yellow, the centre is still dark purple. The fruit is a capsule 2 cm diameter, containing several seeds.
The fibres in kenaf are found in the bast (bark) and core (wood). The bast constitutes 40% of the plant. "Crude fibre" separated from the bast is multi-cellular, consisting of several individual cells stuck together. The individual fibre cells are about 2–6 mm long and slender. The cell wall is thick (6.3 µm). The core is about 60% of the plant and has thick (≈38 µm) but short (0.5 mm) and thin-walled (3 µm) fibre cells.Paper pulp is produced from the whole stem, and therefore contains two types of fibres, from the bast and from the core. The pulp quality is similar to hardwood.
Kenaf is cultivated for its fibre in India, Bangladesh, United States of America, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Viet Nam, Thailand, parts of Africa, and to a small extent in southeast Europe. The stems produce two types of fibre, a coarser fibre in the outer layer (bast fibre), and a finer fibre in the core. It matures in 100 to 200 days. Kenaf was grown in Egypt over 3000 years ago. The kenaf leaves were consumed in human and animal diets, the bast fibre was used for bags, cordage, and the sails for Egyptian boats. This crop was not introduced into southern Europe until the early 1900s. Today, principal farming areas are China, India, and it is also grown in many other countries such as the US, Mexico and Senegal.
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Wikipedia