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Juncus setchuansis is a perennial plant growing in dense clumps, which is very abundant in the southwest of China.

Flax is an annual plant from 30 to 120cm in height. It requires rich and loose soil and a temperate climate is most favorable to it. In India flax is cultivated to 1900 m altitude. Its growth cycle is short, one hundred days. Flowering takes place in mid-June.

Linum usitatissimum was domesticated in the 8th millennium BC. in Syria or Iran. It was widely used in ancient Egypt as well as a textile fiber and as in diet. The use of linen was later adopted in countries around the Mediterranean, then in Northern and Western Europe (5th century BC.) and would have moved Eastward where its use would have begun in India around the 3rd century BC.

It is cultivated both for its use in textiles and for its seeds in the production of oil and bread. The seed-cakes are used as fodder.

For papermaking, fibers are obtained from either textiles, known as rag, or from remnant hemp fibres called “textile flax tow” after the textile fibers have been recovered, either from the whole plant (usually from seed oil flax).

Bast fibers for textile production are separated from the stem after retting, beating, scutching and drying.

Retting allows the separation of the fibrous parts of the plant by decomposition of the pectose that binds them, thanks to the action of bacterias. It is performed either in water or on fields.
It takes place after pulling the plants, collecting them in bales, and ginning them with a comb.
After retting the fibers are dried and the dry tow is ground to remove the remaining particles of bark.
Scutching is to rid the fibers from the woody part of the plant (boon) and separate the long strands from the tow. The work ends with combing. The fibers can then be carded, spun and then woven.

Flax is an annual plant from 30 to 120cm in height. It requires rich and loose soil and a temperate climate is most favorable to it. In India flax is cultivated to 1900 m altitude. Its growth cycle is short, one hundred days. Flowering takes place in mid-June.

Linum usitatissimum was domesticated in the 8th millennium BC. in Syria or Iran. It was widely used in ancient Egypt as well as a textile fiber and as in diet. The use of linen was later adopted in countries around the Mediterranean, then in Northern and Western Europe (5th century BC.) and would have moved Eastward where its use would have begun in India around the 3rd century BC.

It is cultivated both for its use in textiles and for its seeds in the production of oil and bread. The seed-cakes are used as fodder.

For papermaking, fibers are obtained from either textiles, known as rag, or from remnant hemp fibres called “textile flax tow” after the textile fibers have been recovered, either from the whole plant (usually from seed oil flax).

Bast fibers for textile production are separated from the stem after retting, beating, scutching and drying.

Retting allows the separation of the fibrous parts of the plant by decomposition of the pectose that binds them, thanks to the action of bacterias. It is performed either in water or on fields.
It takes place after pulling the plants, collecting them in bales, and ginning them with a comb.
After retting the fibers are dried and the dry tow is ground to remove the remaining particles of bark.
Scutching is to rid the fibers from the woody part of the plant (boon) and separate the long strands from the tow. The work ends with combing. The fibers can then be carded, spun and then woven.

Juncus setchuansis is a perennial plant growing in dense clumps, which is very abundant in the southwest of China.

Juncus setchuansis is a perennial plant growing in dense clumps, which is very abundant in the southwest of China.

Juncus setchuansis is a perennial plant growing in dense clumps, which is very abundant in the southwest of China.

Juncus setchuansis is a perennial plant growing in dense clumps, which is very abundant in the southwest of China.

Myrica rubra is an evergreen tree growing to 15 m. The plant prefers a moist soil, grows in sun or light shade. It is in bloom in March April. The fruits are red; they are as their seeds, edible.

Stem bark, fruits and seeds are used in traditonal medecine.

Leaves and twigs give a brown dye. The dye is a flavonoid, the myricétol which occurs mainly in the leaves.

Juncus effusus is a perennial plant which grows in dense clumps that can reach 1.5 m in height by 0.5 m in diameter. The stems are straight and smooth, and contain a spongy pith. Roots are rhizomes allowing it to colonize the edges of water. Flowering occurs in summer.

The plant adapts to various types of soils and can grow in heavy clay soils; it needs moist soils and can grow in water and develop in partial shade.

Its leaves are edible and the stem pith is anti-inflammatory, diuretic, and febrifuge.
Stems are used in basketry, mats making and thatching; the straw, called igusa in Japan, is commonly used to make tatami mats, especially in Kumamoto Prefecture. Dried stems can be twisted into ropes. Pith is used as a wick for oil lamps.

The stems are used to produce paper fiber giving an off-white paper. They are used in combination with the fibers of the bark of mulberry trees for making stencil paper.