By @DrMGoesWild
#AdventBotany Day 14 – Yesterday we wrapped our Advent Botany Christmas parcels in botanical paper, today we tie them up with string! Modern Christmas string is most likely made from nylon, rayon, polyester or other synthetics. But how nice to deliver your Christmas parcels tied up with botanical string? String can be fashioned from the plant fibres of a wide range of species including:
Coir Coconut fibre (Cocos nucifera – Arecaceae)
Cotton (Gossypium – Malvaceae)
Flax (Linum usitatissimum – Linaceae)
Hemp (Cannabis sativa – Cannabaceae)
Jute (Corchorus sp. – Sparmanniaceae)
Nettles (Urtica dioica – Urticaceae)
Raffia (Raphia taedigera – Arecaceae)
Sisal (Agave sisalana – Asparagaceae)
Imagine the joy, while researching #AdventBotany, Dr M was delighted to discover a secret stash of botanical strings and ropes fashioned from Cannabis sativa and others in the economic botany cupboard at the University or Reading, some images below:
If you fancy trying your hand at fashioning some hand-crafted string this Christmas, check out this video on making hemp string.