Damn big bromeliad

Bromeliads are members of the pineapple family; here in the tropics many are epiphytes, others are terrestrial. This particular bromeliad (Aechmea magdalenae) is one of the larger terrestrial ones. It has no discernable stem but the leaves can be 2 m tall. Many whorls of such leaves form dense patches, probably a clone, and with the sharp spiny margins on their leaves they make nearly impenetrable thickets. TPP has been walking by this one big patch for years never noticing anything special, but this time there was an inflorescence that couldn't be missed because it was as big as your head and bright red. Amazing since nothing in that patch had ever been seen to flower before. TPP seems to remember someone saying that this bromeliad was used for fiber which would be no surprise because many monocot leaves produce long parallel structural fibers (vascular bundles like Manila hemp from Musa textilis). So this plant could have been moved around with people quite a bit so no idea how "native" this plant is.

Pineapple Fiber

When you say pineapple, everyone thinks of that succulent tropical multiple fruit. But like all monocots, the long narrow leaves of pineapple have parallel vascular bundle fibers that run their length, and unlike the better known coarse structural fibers of Manila hemp from Musa textilis sisal and henequen from species of Agave, pineapple fiber is quite fine for a structural fiber and can be made into very lustrous, light-weight fabric. And of course once you've grown your pineapple fruits, the old leafy stalk gets removed so make way for new shoots, and mostly these get burned. Sounds like a win-win situation, but then again it sounded that way when someone proposed making paper and other fiber products out of corn stalks left after harvesting. Nothing much seems to have happened with regard to that either. The very nice pineapple image (couldn't find mine) was borrowed from here.

Rainforest Field Trip - Hats off to Cyclanths

Panama hats are one of the Phactor's few vices, at least in his own opinion. And of course everyone knows where Panama hats come from, right? That's right, Ecuador! Panama hats are woven from a structural fiber, which are monocot leaf vascular bundles, from the aptly named Panama hat plant, a terribly uniformative common name, so that does not conjure up a plant image for most of you. Even when you first see the Panama hat plant you will probably overlook it and simply place it in the non-descript, to be ignored category of "palms". A lot of tropical plants get so lumped, and many like the cycads, most inappropriately so. This is certainly true for our students most of whom suffer from a bit of plant blindness, so the plant screening their cabina, and refugee camp clutter, from general view simply has not registered with them at all. As the image shows Carludovica sulcata does look very palmy, but this is a member of the Cyclanth family, not the palm family, and actually this is not the Panama hat species (C. palmata), but people do so like common names. The flowers and fruits really give it away that this is not a palm.