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This page about a plant was expanded
[[Image:Abaca.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Man working with abaca in Indonesia]]
[[Image:Abaca.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Man working with abaca in Indonesia]]
The '''Abaca''' is a plant related to the banana plant, though the fruit from the abaca is not edible. Its fiber is referred to as Manila hemp, though it is not actually hemp.<ref name="phil">[http://www.philippineherbalmedicine.org/abaca.htm Philippine Herbal Medicine]</ref> The abaca plant is native to the [[Philippines]].<ref>{{Nuttall|Abaca}}</ref> Manilla envelopes and manilla folders take their name from this particular fiber.<ref name="phil" />
The '''Abaca''' (''Musa textilis'') is a plant related to the banana plant, though the fruit from the abaca is not edible. Its fiber is referred to as Manila hemp, though it is not actually hemp.<ref name="phil">[http://www.philippineherbalmedicine.org/abaca.htm Philippine Herbal Medicine]</ref> The abaca plant is native to the [[Philippines]].<ref>{{Nuttall|Abaca}}</ref> Manilla envelopes and manilla folders take their name from this particular fiber.<ref name="phil" />
==Biology==
The Abaca plant is a member of the Musacae family.<ref name="brit">"Abaca". ''The New Encyclopedia Britannica''. 15th ed., Vol. 1</ref> It is well distributed in the tropical humid regions, and consists of stalks 2 inches in diameter with oblong, pointed leaves and an herbaceous trunk.<ref name="brit" /> This trunk is sliced into thin strips in order to convert the plant into rope or paper.<ref>http://www.naturalfibres2009.org/en/fibres/abaca.html</ref>
==Usage==
The plant was important as a source of cordage fiber (especially for the riggings of ships in the 1800s,<ref>http://www.fao.org/economic/futurefibres/fibres/abaca0/en/</ref> and in 1915, the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] expanded cultivation from the Philippines to [[Sumatra]] in [[Indonesia]] while the [[United States Department of Agriculture]] introduced it to [[Central America]]. Despite this, the Philippines remain the primary producer of abaca, followed by Ecuador and Costa Rica.<ref>https://textilefashionstudy.com/top-abaca-producers-country-of-the-world-hard-fiber-production/</ref>
==References==
==References==