170
M. Sharan and S. Haldar
floating shoots (Ipomoea aquatica, Trapa maximowiczii) and emergent anchored
hydrophytes (Bacopimonnieri, Eleocharisspiralis, Hydroceratriflora, Linnocharisflava, Limnophila aromatic, L. heterophylla, Monochoriavaginalis, Typha spp. etc.)
[2].
Lotus is the ancient aquatic plant that is widely distributed across the globe in
China, India, Bhutan, Malaysia, New Guinea, Japan, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia,
Sri Lanka, America, Australia and Thailand [3]. Fibers of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn,
an aquatic perennial plant more commonly known as lotus with its pink and white
flowers, are sacred in parts of Asia. It is also reported that the stems of pink color
lotus submerged in the water are perfect to produce strong and durable fiber [4].
Fiber-producing species Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn occurs widely from Kashmir to
Kanyakumari showing huge phenotypic diversity with different shapes, sizes and
shades [5]. Different parts of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn seeds, rhizomes, flowers,
stamens and roots have numerous applications. The flowers have a most economic
importance across the country used in festive occasions and offerings to god and
goddess. Due to the wide usage of flowers, the petioles are cut with the little length
of petiole leaving the rest of the entire petiole in the pond as a waste. This petiole
contains precious fibers that are hidden in the water. People often confuses between
the petiole and rhizome. In normal colloquial language people speak petiole as a stem.
But scientifically both the parts are different. The petiole is the stalk that supports a
leaf in a plant and attaches it to the stem. Many people often call it a stem, which is
incorrect. A stem is the part of the plant that serves as the main source of support and
produces nodes and roots, and that’s not what we observe in petioles [6]. Rhizome
(also known as rootstocks) is a type of plant whose stem is situated either at the soil
surface or underground that contains nodes from which roots and shoots originate
(shown below). Rhizomes are unique in that they grow perpendicular, permitting
new shoots to grow up out of the ground. When separated, each piece of a rhizome
is capable of producing a new plant [7].
The lotus flower is adorned for its characteristic of rising above the muddy water,
indicating how one can rise above defilements of life. Apart from motivation for life,
the plant also provides fibers which are used for making a rare kind of cloth matching
with the flawless virtues of the silk. Fibers extracted from the lotus flowers of the
Myanmar lakes are spun by hand and woven within 24 h making a fabric similar
to silk. Extracting fibers from lotus stems has been in practice since 1910. Later
during the 1990s designers of Japan setup workshops to create a foreign market for
their fabric. But due to low demand in Japan, lotus fiber fabric remained a rare and
handmade textile [1].
India is the country where lotus farming is practiced nearly about in all the states.
Lotus cultivators used to sell the flowers, leaves and rhizomes but they are not aware
about the petioles which contain precious fibers that are left in the pond after picking
the flowers. As per the review, the manual extraction pattern followed in the Myanmar
is: first, the fibers are spun by palm twisting, and again it is taken on the hand charkha
which is time-consuming. In the present study researcher has tried to extract the fiber
from the petiole and directly winded in the pern without palm twisting. The fibers
were handspun in the box (peti) charkha and fabrics were prepared. The aim of the
M. Sharan and S. Haldar
floating shoots (Ipomoea aquatica, Trapa maximowiczii) and emergent anchored
hydrophytes (Bacopimonnieri, Eleocharisspiralis, Hydroceratriflora, Linnocharisflava, Limnophila aromatic, L. heterophylla, Monochoriavaginalis, Typha spp. etc.)
[2].
Lotus is the ancient aquatic plant that is widely distributed across the globe in
China, India, Bhutan, Malaysia, New Guinea, Japan, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia,
Sri Lanka, America, Australia and Thailand [3]. Fibers of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn,
an aquatic perennial plant more commonly known as lotus with its pink and white
flowers, are sacred in parts of Asia. It is also reported that the stems of pink color
lotus submerged in the water are perfect to produce strong and durable fiber [4].
Fiber-producing species Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn occurs widely from Kashmir to
Kanyakumari showing huge phenotypic diversity with different shapes, sizes and
shades [5]. Different parts of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn seeds, rhizomes, flowers,
stamens and roots have numerous applications. The flowers have a most economic
importance across the country used in festive occasions and offerings to god and
goddess. Due to the wide usage of flowers, the petioles are cut with the little length
of petiole leaving the rest of the entire petiole in the pond as a waste. This petiole
contains precious fibers that are hidden in the water. People often confuses between
the petiole and rhizome. In normal colloquial language people speak petiole as a stem.
But scientifically both the parts are different. The petiole is the stalk that supports a
leaf in a plant and attaches it to the stem. Many people often call it a stem, which is
incorrect. A stem is the part of the plant that serves as the main source of support and
produces nodes and roots, and that’s not what we observe in petioles [6]. Rhizome
(also known as rootstocks) is a type of plant whose stem is situated either at the soil
surface or underground that contains nodes from which roots and shoots originate
(shown below). Rhizomes are unique in that they grow perpendicular, permitting
new shoots to grow up out of the ground. When separated, each piece of a rhizome
is capable of producing a new plant [7].
The lotus flower is adorned for its characteristic of rising above the muddy water,
indicating how one can rise above defilements of life. Apart from motivation for life,
the plant also provides fibers which are used for making a rare kind of cloth matching
with the flawless virtues of the silk. Fibers extracted from the lotus flowers of the
Myanmar lakes are spun by hand and woven within 24 h making a fabric similar
to silk. Extracting fibers from lotus stems has been in practice since 1910. Later
during the 1990s designers of Japan setup workshops to create a foreign market for
their fabric. But due to low demand in Japan, lotus fiber fabric remained a rare and
handmade textile [1].
India is the country where lotus farming is practiced nearly about in all the states.
Lotus cultivators used to sell the flowers, leaves and rhizomes but they are not aware
about the petioles which contain precious fibers that are left in the pond after picking
the flowers. As per the review, the manual extraction pattern followed in the Myanmar
is: first, the fibers are spun by palm twisting, and again it is taken on the hand charkha
which is time-consuming. In the present study researcher has tried to extract the fiber
from the petiole and directly winded in the pern without palm twisting. The fibers
were handspun in the box (peti) charkha and fabrics were prepared. The aim of the