Абака: Филиппинский банан и его волокно

Species of plant

Abacá (Spanish) (/ɑː//b//ə/'/k//ɑː/ ah bəKAH'; ), Musa textilis, is a species of banana endemic to the Philippines. The plant grows to , and averages about 12 feet (4 m). The plant, also known as Manila hemp, has great economic importance, being harvested for its fiber, also called Manila hemp, extracted from the leaf stems. The lustrous fiber is traditionally hand loomed into various indigenous textiles (abaca cloth or medriñaque) in the Philippines. They still figure prominently as the traditional material of the barong tagalog, the national male attire of the Philippines, as well as in sheer lace like fabrics called nipis used in various clothing components. Native abaca textiles also survive into the modern era among various ethnic groups, like the t'nalak of the T'boli people and the dagmay of the Bagobo people. Abaca is also used in traditional Philippine millinery, as well as for bags, shawls, and other decorative items. The hatmaking straw made from Manila hemp is called tagal or tagal straw. The fiber is also exceptionally strong, stronger than hemp and naturally salt resistant, making it ideal for making twines and ropes (especially for maritime shipping). It became a major trade commodity in the colonial era for this reason. The abaca industry declined sharply in the mid 20th century when abaca plantations were decimated by World War II and plant diseases, as well as the invention of nylon in the 1930s (which eventually replaced the use of abacá in maritime cordage). Today, abaca is mostly used in a variety of specialized paper products including tea bags, filter paper and banknotes. Manila envelopes and Manila paper derive their name from this fiber. Abacá has a "false trunk" or pseudostem about in diameter. The leaf stalks (petioles) are expanded at the base to form sheaths that are tightly wrapped together to form the pseudostem. There are from 12 to 25 leaves, dark green on the top and pale green on the underside, sometimes with large brown patches. They are oblong in shape with a deltoid base. They grow in succession. The petioles grow to at least 1 feet (0 m) in length. When the plant is mature, the flower stalk grows up inside the pseudostem. The male flower has five petals, each about long. The leaf sheaths contain the valuable fiber. After harvesting, the coarse fibers range in length from long. They are composed primarily of cellulose, lignin, and pectin. The fruit, which is inedible and is rarely seen as harvesting occurs before the plant fruits, grows to about in length and in diameter. It has black turbinate seeds that are in diameter.

The abacá plant belongs to the banana family, Musaceae; it resembles the closely related wild seeded bananas, Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. Its scientific name is Musa textilis. Within the genus Musa, it is placed in section Callimusa (now including the former section Australimusa), members of which have a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 20.

The Philippines, especially the Bicol region in Luzon, has the most abaca genotypes and cultivars. Genetic analysis using simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers revealed that the Philippines' abaca germplasm is genetically diverse. Abaca genotypes in Luzon had higher genetic diversity than Visayas and Mindanao. Ancestors of the modern abacá are thought to have originated from the eastern Philippines, where there is significant rainfall throughout the year. Wild varieties of abacá can still be found in the interior forests of the island province of Catanduanes, away from cultivated areas. Today, Catanduanes has many other modern kinds of abacá which are more competitive. For many years, breeders from various research institutions have made the cultivated varieties of Catanduanes even more competitive in local and international markets. This results in the optimum production of the island which had a consistent highest production throughout the archipelago.

Europeans first came into contact with Abacá fibre when Ferdinand Magellan landed in the Philippines in 1521, as the natives were already cultivating it and utilizing it in bulk for textiles. In fact, from 1850 through the end of the 19th century, sugar or abacá alternated with each other as the biggest export crop of the Philippines.

In the early 1900s, a train running from Danao to Argao would transport Philippine abacá from the plantations to Cebu City for export. The railway system was destroyed during World War II; the abaca continues to be transported to Cebu by road. Excluding the Philippines, abacá was first cultivated on a large scale in Sumatra in 1925 under the Dutch, who had observed its cultivation in the Philippines for cordage since the nineteenth century, followed up by plantings in Central America in 1929 sponsored by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. It also was transplanted into India and Guam. The Philippines produces between 85%

Due to its strength, it is a sought after product and is the strongest of the natural fibers. and decorative papers. bags, carpets, clothing and furniture. Lupis is the finest quality of abacá. Sinamay is woven chiefly from abacá.

Abacá fibers were traditionally woven into sturdy textiles and clothing in the Philippines since pre colonial times. Along with cotton, they were the main source of textile fibers used for clothing in the pre colonial Philippines. Abacá cloth was often compared to calico in terms of texture and was a major trade commodity in the pre colonial maritime trade and the Spanish colonial era. There are multiple traditional types and names of abaca cloth among the different ethnic groups of the Philippines. Undyed plain abacá cloth, woven from fine fibers of abaca, is generally known as sinamáy in most of the islands. Abacá cloth with a more delicate texture is called tinampipi. While especially fine lace like abacá cloth is called nipis or lupis. Fine abacá fibers may also be woven with piña, silk, or fine cotton to create a fabric called jusi. During the Spanish colonial era, abacá cloth became known as medriñaque in Spanish (apparently derived from a native Cebuano name). They were exported to other Spanish colonies since the 16th century. A waistcoat of a native Quechua man in Peru was recorded as being made of medriñaque as early as 1584. Abacá cloth also appear in English records, spelled variously as medrinacks, medrianacks, medrianackes, and medrinacles, among other names. They were used as canvas for sails and for stiffening clothing like skirts, collars, and doublets. Philippine indigenous tribes still weave abacá based textiles like t'nalak, made by the Tiboli tribe of South Cotabato, and dagmay, made by the Bagobo people. Abacá cloth is found in museum collections around the world, like the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Textile Museum of Canada.

Manila rope is a type of rope made from manila hemp. Manila rope is very durable, flexible, and resistant to salt water damage, allowing its use in rope, hawsers, ships' lines, and fishing nets. Abacá fiber was once used primarily for rope, but this application is now of minor significance.