Gardening: Where does that come from? - History of rope

Nov 14 2009 by Linzi Nicholson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

GIVE someone enough rope and . . .

Over the history of the human race, ropes, twines, threads and cords have been produced from a wide variety of plants, some just as bi-products of other crops and it is quite surprising how many different plants are still used.

The obvious one is Sisal taken from Agave sisalana, a native of Mexico but now extensively grown in Tanzania – the new Lotus Eco-Elise uses it in the body work and it produces ropes such as twine that we use in our gardens.

Cannabis sativa, perhaps more commonly known these days for its qualities as an hallucinogenic drug, produces the raw materials for making hemp ropes. The Manila Hemp, Musa textilis, a relative of the Banana plant, is widely used in ship’s rigging and for sacking. Bowstring hemp is taken from Sanseveria, a popular house plant. Flax, Linum usitatissimum, more commonly know for the production of linen, is used in rope making. Coir fibre from the Coconut Palm, Cocus nucifera, now seen as a potting compost is made into ropes. Jute, Corchorus gives us ropes and twines in the garden and is widely grown in Bengal. And the story goes on…. each of these plants produces long fibres in the internal plant tissue that can be extracted and spun or woven together.