BOWSTRING HEMP, an English mne, proposed by Dr. Roxburgh, and partially adopted, for the fiber produced by samwriera eeylaniea, a plant of the natural order Liliac-ea? (q.v.), tribe hemerocallem, a native of the East Indies. The employment of the fiber for making bowstrings led to this name. Dr. Boyle prefers to use the Sanscrit name Mooftva, on account of the confusion apt to be caused by applying the term hemp to a variety of fibers.—The genus saraeviera is distinguished by a colored funnel-shaped `perianth, with a long tube, into the throat of which the stamens are inserted, and a and 3-seeded, or abortively 1-celled and 1-seeded, berry. The plants have a general appearance much like that of many species of frig, but their leaves are more fleshy; they have a thick creeping rhizome or root-stock; the radical leaves arc long and narrow, and the flowering-stems have only scale-like leaves.—Very similar to S. sygla nira are 8. Rarburghiana and S. lanuginolta, also natives of India.—These plants grow under bushes in jungles near,the sea, where the soil is salt. but may easily be propagated on almost any soil by the • shoots which issue in great abundance from the root-stock. They are perennial. The leaves are about 2 ft., or in cultivation 8 or 4 ft. long; the fibers
extend their whole length; and to separate the fibers from the pulpy part of the leaves, " the natives place thorn On •a smooth board, then press one .end of the leaf down with one of their great toes, and with a thin bit of hard stick, held between the two hands, they scrape the leaf from them, and very quickly remove every part of the pulp." Steeping in water is also practiced. but it discolors the fiber, which is beautifully white. One pound of eleau fiber is obtained from about 40 lbs. of fresh leaves. Dr. Roxburgh calculated that 1 acre would yield 1613 lbs. of clean fiber at a gathering, of which two might be reckoned upon annually in good soil and favorable seasons, after the plants have reached a proper age. Moorva, or B. IL, may well be supposed likely to acquire commercial importance. The fiber is hair-like and silky, elastic, and in strength appar ently about equal to hemp. It does not rot in water so soon as hemp.—A species of sangeekra very similar to the Indian ones, S. Unineensis, is found in abundance alona. great extent of the w. coast of Africa, specimens of the fiber of which, also fine and strong, have been brought to England under the name of AFRICAN BOWSTRING HEMP.