The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

CHAPTER XIII.
SPARTUM, OR SPANISH BROOM.
CLOTH MANUFACTURED FROM BROOM BARK, NETTLE, AND BULBOUS
PLANT. TESTLMONY OF GREEK AND LATIN AUTHORS.
Authority for Spanisli Broom—Stipa Tenacissima—Cloth made from Broombark—Albania—Italy—France—
Mode of preparing tlie fibre for weaving
Pliny's account of Spartiun— Bulbous plant—Its fibrous coats—Pliny's transla-
tion of Theophrastus—Socks and garments—Size of the bulb—Its geuus or
species not sufficiently defined—Remarks of various modem writers on this plant
—Interesting communications of Dr. Daniel Stebbins, of Northampton, Mass.
to Hon. H. L. Ellsworth.
Pliny says, that " in the part of Hispania Citerior about
New Carthage whole mountains were covered with Spartum ;
that the natives made mattresses, shoes, and coarse garments
of it., also fires and torches ; and that its tender tops were eaten
by animals*." He also says, that it grows spontaneously
where nothing else ^vill grow, and that it is " the rush of a dry
soil."
The question now arises, what plant Pliny intended to de-
scribe. Clusius, who travelled in Spain chiefly with a view to
botany, supposed Pliny's " Spartum" to be the tough grass,
used in every part of Spain for making mats, baskets, &c.,
which Linnaeus afterwards called Stipa Tenacissimaf. It is
not surprising, that the opinion of so eminent a botanist as
Clusius has been generally adopted. It is, however, far
more probable, that the plant, which Pliny intended to speak
of, was the Spartium Junceum, Li7in., so familiarly known
under the name of Spanish Broom.
In the first place, the name Spartum should be considered as
decisive of the question, unless some sufficient reason can be
* L. xix. c. 2. t Clusii Plant. Rar. Historia, L. vi. p. 219. 220.
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