Manila hemp

Manila hemp, also known as manilla, is a type of fiber

Fiber

Fiber is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread.They are very important in the biology of both plants and animals, for holding tissues together....

 obtained from the leaves of the abacá

Abacá

Abacá, Musa textilis is a species of banana native to the Philippines, grown as a commercial crop in the Philippines, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. The plant is of great economic importance, being harvested for its fibre, once generally called Manila hemp, extracted from the trunk or pseudostem. On...

 (Musa textilis), a relative of the banana

Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....

. It is mostly used for pulping for a range of uses, including speciality papers. It was once used mainly to make manila rope

Manila rope

Manila rope is a type of rope made from manila hemp.Manila hemp is a type of fiber obtained from the leaves of the abacá. It is not actually hemp, but named so because hemp was long a major source of fiber, and other fibers were sometimes named after it...

, but this is now of minor importance. Manila envelopes

Manila folder

The manila folder is a file folder designed to contain documents. It is generally formed by folding a large sheet of stiff card in half. Though traditionally beige, sometimes other colors are used to differentiate categories of files.The manila envelope is an envelope designed for transporting...

 and manila paper

Manila paper

Manila paper is a type of paper originally made from Manila hemp or abacá. It is buff in color and the fibers are usually visible to the naked eye. Because manila paper is generally inexpensive, it is commonly given to children for making child art....

 take their name from this fibre.

It is not actually hemp

Hemp

Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...

, but named so because hemp was long a major source of fibre, and other fibres were sometimes named after it. The name refers to the capital

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

 of the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, one of the main producers of abacá.

External links

• Abaca Fiber (Manila Hemp)