China-grass

China isenwein, m. (Pharm.) bitter wine ol iron. -gerbsMure, /. quinotannic acid, -gras, n. China grass (ramie), -holz, n. cinchona wood. 

Kenaf (Manila hemp) Ramie (China grass)... 

Flax, Hemp, China Grass, 2 vol., Manchester, A. Heywood Son, 1888. 

China grass The stiff, dried, hand-cleaned but not degummed fiber of ramie Chinchona See cinchona. 

Ramie belongs to the nettle family, genus Boehmeria nivea. The variety grown in China, Taiwan, and India has silvery-white hair on the underside of its leaves and yields China grass, or white ramie. The variety grown in Malaysia, Africa, and Mexico has leaves with green undersides and yields rhea, or green ramie. Strips from both are very similar, except that the white ramie fibers are considered to have a finer texture. 

Ramie is obtained from china grass. Since it is several years old on cropping, the plant is thicker than flax and hemp and yields a paper that is very tear resistant ( Japanese paper ). It comes in two forms as white (Boehmeria nivea) and green B. tenacissima) ramie, particularly in China, Japan, Thailand, India, and Malaya, and also in Mexico. 

Fairly pure cellulose occurs in seed hairs (cotton) and the stalks or leaves of many plants (flax, hemp, China grass). Since only a mechanical separation is needed for commercial purposes, these sources were made use of thousands of years ago. More recently, cellulose has been obtained from both deciduous and coniferous trees and the stalks of annuals (plants) by nonmechanical separation processes. In these plants, about 40% cellulose is present together with noncellulose components in the wooden cell walls. The latter consist of about 70% lignin (cf. Section 32.3) and about 30% so-called hemicelluloses. Hemicelluloses are short-chain polysaccharides from nonglucose sugars (mannose, galactose, xylose, arabinose, uronic acids, etc.). 

The variety tenacissima differs in that it is more robust and has larger leaves, which are pale green on the face and a very much paler green on the back. They are not downy, however, and this affords a ready means of distinction from true China-grass. Boehmeria nivea is sometimes found wild in India, Malaya, China and Japan, and is probably a native of India and Malaya. China-grass and ramie are widely cultivated not only in China, Formosa and Japan, but also in Brazil, Mexico and the southern states of North America, and also in South Europe. 

Blends of two or more biopolymers are not presented here, they are included in the paragraph describing the main constituent of their matrix. Starch or lignin are often added as a filler. Depending on their concentration, these blends are described in the section dedicated to starch/lignin or to their main matrix component. The main natural fibres that can be added to biopolymers are cotton, jute, flax, hemp, ramie/china grass, sisal, kenaf, kapok and abaca (Beckwith, 2003). Table 1.2 summarises the major properties of these fibres (Drzal et al, 2002)... 

Typical representatives are - com and millet species, miscanthus (- China grass) and other tropical grasses. With - genetic engineering techniques, it has been attempted to transfer this characteristic to C3 -+ cereals. Examples of c. within the - dicotyledonous classes of plants are Atriplex and Falveria, which actually include both C3 and C4 species. 

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