Esparto [1] , or alpha [1] , or a feathery grass [2] ( lat. Stípa tenacíssima ) is a perennial herbaceous plant, a species of the genus Feather ( Stipa ) of the Cereals family. Grows in Spain and North Africa . Important crop.
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 General view of a flowering plant | ||||||||||||||||||
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Content
- 1 Distribution
- 2 Use
- 3 notes
- 4 Literature
Distribution
Esparto is endemic to the western Mediterranean and grows on semi-desert soils in North Africa and southern Spain. In Algeria, the area of esparto is estimated at 3 million hectares, the largest area - in the province of Saida , 1.2 million hectares. Widely distributed from the Oran region to the highlands in southern Algeria (up to heights of 1800 m). It is an important element of combating desertification in North Africa [3] .
Grows bumps, height 0.3-1.5 m.
Usage
It is used as pasture feed for camels , horses and oxen . It is an export product to European countries, at the beginning of the 20th century, esparto exports from Spain amounted to 40, from Tunisia and Tripoli - 30, and from Algeria - 60 thousand tons per year [4] . The leaves of the plant are made of durable fiber and are used to produce artificial silk and other fabrics, are also used for weaving various things and serve as raw materials for paper production [1] .
Esparto has been known for its paper applications in Europe for over 100 years. Esparto fibers produce high quality paper, which is used in book publishing. World production of esparto pulp is estimated at 250 thousand tons per year (1973) [5] .
Esparto bunch
Esparto weaving
Seeds close up
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Esparto // Bookplate - Yaya. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1978. - (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. Ed. A. M. Prokhorov ; 1969-1978, vol. 30).
- ↑ Juus M. A., Feather-grass feather ( Stipa capillata L., Poaceae) - a new adventitious species of the flora of Belarus // Vestn. Byelorussian. un-that. Ser. 2: Chem. Biol. Geo - 2013. - No. 1. - P. 82—87.
- ↑ Akchiche Omar, Messaoud Boureghda Khadra. Ssparto Grass (Stipa Tenacissima L), Raw Material of Papermaking. First Part . - Chemistry of plant materials, 2007. - Iss. 4 . - P. 25-30 . Archived April 24, 2014.
- ↑ Esparto // Small Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 4 volumes - St. Petersburg. 1907-1909.
- ↑ Guide for Planning Pulp and Paper Enterprises . - Food & Agriculture Org., 1973. - S. 258-260. - P. 379. - ISBN 92-5-100058-1 .