Ramie

Ramie ( Boehmeria nivea )

The ramie ( Boehmeria nivea ), also China grass, a plant belonging to the family of the Nettle family is ( Urticaceae ). It is native to tropical Asia and is traditionally grown in Asia, but partly also in South America and occasionally in Europe as a fiber plant.

Description

The Ramie is a weakly branched, perennial, herbaceous plant and can reach an age of up to 20 years. Grow from the rootstock from rhizomes and storage roots 50 to 150 centimeters ( in culture up to 3 meters) high and 2.3 inches thick stems. The upper stems, branches and 2.5 to 10 cm long petioles are densely hairy with stiff, strong and smooth -fitting hair.

The alternate leaves are standing 5 to 15 centimeters long and 3.5 to 13 inches wide, broadly oval to elliptic - ovate, pointed and with finely serrated edge. They are hairy snow-white on the bottom, occasionally hairy light green with white, solid and smooth -fitting hairs along the Vein or fine white, the top is slightly rough and only slightly hairy. The leaf base is almost heart-shaped, parallel to the midrib generally run on each side three side ribs. 7 to 11 mm long stipules are lanceolate and either fused and ambivalent or non- growing.

The plants are monoecious, flowering period is from May to August. The highly branched, rispenähnlichen inflorescence shorter than the petioles, and arise from the leaf axils of adult or already fallen leaves, the individual branches are unisexual. In them, the flowers are in glomeruli, in the upper part are seated the female flowers in the lower part of the male, the latter may be missing however.

Male glomeruli are wenigblütig and measure the diameter of 2-4 mm, the females are floriferous and measure 2 to 3 millimeters in diameter. The sessile male flowers are cruciform, the Corolla lobe are viergelappt up to half, 1.5 mm long and hairy. The female flowers are diamond-shaped to elliptical and 0.6 to 0.8 millimeters long, the scar is about 1 millimeter long. The fruiting crown is diamond-shaped to reverse- egg-shaped, compressed, constricted stalk- like at the base and about 1 mm long, the tip is two to dreigezähnt.

The plants are pollinated by the wind.

The September-November maturing fruits are nearly ovoid, up to 0.6 mm long achenes and carry on the approach, a stipule.

Dissemination

The plant is one in East and Southeast Asia (China, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam) widespread wild plant. It is found on roadsides, forest edges, between bushes and on moist sites along water courses at altitudes 200-1700 m.

System

The species is very variable and is systematically not been sufficiently delineated. Currently two varieties are distinguished:

• B. nivea nivea var: with the under side white, felty leaves, only in culture or as a cultural refugee
• B. nivea var tenacissima: without felted leaf underside

Use

Textiles made from ramie fibers are first attested in Egyptian mummy wrappings from the period 5000-3300 BC, in China it is cultivated as a fiber plant for about 3000 years. So that the ramie fiber is one of the oldest plants in the world. In the early 18th century, the plant first came to Europe, North and South America.

In 2000, over 170,000 tons of fibers were produced worldwide from the ramie, about twice as much as from hemp. This makes it the seventh most important natural fiber in the world. Main producing countries with a good 75 % of the world production of China ( here Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi and Sichuan ) and the Philippines, India and Brazil. These countries are also the main consumers in the world market therefore the fiber occurs only partially in appearance. The main importing countries are Japan, Germany, France and the UK.

Use as a fiber plant

Main article: ramie

The ramie fibers are obtained from the bast of the stem, they make up to 15% of the plant and are 40 to 350 millimeters long and 40 to 50 microns thick. They are wet spun and characterized by one with 393-1050 MPa high tensile capacity. Dense and coarse Absorptionsfähigeit fiber ( 25 to 30 micrometer) similar to the linen. Main area of ​​application is the use as a textile fiber.

As a pure ramie fiber gives light, silky fabric that resemble linen. Because of its low resistance and elasticity ramie is, however, usually used as a supplement to other textile fibers. It enhances the luster and strength of cotton fibers and reduces the shrinkage of the wool fiber. Their use in this area of ​​the wool blends, however, is to be considered rather exotic.

Although the ramie fiber is considered extremely high, it may be due to their relatively complex processing that is not still fully automated, in the textile market has not priced to compete with other natural fibers such as cotton, wool or linen.

Other Uses

Ramie fibers are used in rope manufacture and paper production. In particular, short-grain fiber residues are in the production process of high-quality specialty paper (banknotes, cigarette paper).

The leaves and young ends of the stem axis are used as feed for cattle, pigs and poultry. When feeding, however, the high mineral content of the plant is taken into account, which must be countered by copper sulfate gifts as an aggregate. Young leaves are used to feed silkworms.

In Asia, the plant will also be medically needed, they should, for example, help for fever and infection of the urethra.

Cultivation

The ramie appreciates well-drained, nutrient- rich and airy, loose soils. To diseases and pests is largely resistant due to their vigor it displaces weeds. As originally subtropical or tropical plant, it is, however, sensitive to frost. A cultivation in temperate zones is therefore problematic because the rhizomes are threatening to freeze to death in winter.

Field trials in southern Germany were two, in central Italy, three possible harvests a year. Under tropical conditions, up to six harvests per year can be achieved.

Between eight and 20 tons of green matter per hectare are harvested, the fiber yield can be about 1.5 tons.

Evidence

• Jiarui Chen, Qi Lin, Ib Friis, C. Melanie Wilmot - Dear, Alex K. Monro: Urticaceae. In: Flora of China, vol 5, p 166
• K.U.Heyland, H. Hanus, E. R. Basement: oil crops, fiber crops, medicinal plants and special crops In: Handbook of plant cultivation, vol 4, pp. 308-309