Natural Products
Before the era of plastics and the creation of countless other man-made compounds, industrious humans depended on naturally occurring resources. Unprocessed or minimally processed products are still important to today’s modern industry.
Natural Products Encyclopedia Articles
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kapok
Kapok, (Ceiba pentandra), seed-hair fibre obtained from the fruit of the kapok tree or the kapok tree itself. The kapok is a gigantic tree of the tropical forest canopy and emergent layer. Common throughout...
rope
Rope, assemblage of fibres, filaments, or wires compacted by twisting or braiding (plaiting) into a long, flexible line. Wire rope is often referred to as cable (q.v.). The basic requirement for service...
wood
Wood, the principal strengthening and nutrient-conducting tissue of trees and other plants and one of the most abundant and versatile natural materials. Produced by many botanical species, including both...
cotton
Cotton, seed-hair fibre of several species of plants of the genus Gossypium, belonging to the hibiscus, or mallow, family (Malvaceae). Cotton, one of the world’s leading agricultural crops, is plentiful...
wax
Wax, any of a class of pliable substances of animal, plant, mineral, or synthetic origin that differ from fats in being less greasy, harder, and more brittle and in containing principally compounds of...
natural fibre
Natural fibre, any hairlike raw material directly obtainable from an animal, vegetable, or mineral source and convertible into nonwoven fabrics such as felt or paper or, after spinning into yarns, into...
jute
Jute, either of two species of Corchorus plants—C. capsularis, or white jute, and C. olitorius, including both tossa and daisee varieties—belonging to the hibiscus, or mallow, family (Malvaceae), and their...
silk
Silk, animal fibre produced by certain insects and arachnids as building material for cocoons and webs, some of which can be used to make fine fabrics. In commercial use, silk is almost entirely limited...
leather
Leather, animal skins and hides that have been treated with chemicals to preserve them and make them suitable for use as clothing, footwear, handbags, furniture, tools, and sports equipment. The term hide...
fur
Fur, fine, soft, hairy covering or coat of mammals that has been important to humankind throughout history, chiefly for warmth but also for decorative and other purposes. The pelts of fur-bearing animals...
man-made fibre
Man-made fibre, fibre whose chemical composition, structure, and properties are significantly modified during the manufacturing process. Man-made fibres are spun and woven into a huge number of consumer...
lace
Lace, ornamental, openwork fabric formed by looping, interlacing, braiding (plaiting), or twisting threads. The dividing line between lace and embroidery, which is an ornamentation added to an already...
wool
Wool, animal fibre forming the protective covering, or fleece, of sheep or of other hairy mammals, such as goats and camels. Prehistoric man, clothing himself with sheepskins, eventually learned to make...
essential oil
Essential oil, highly volatile substance isolated by a physical process from an odoriferous plant of a single botanical species. The oil bears the name of the plant from which it is derived; for example,...
felt
Felt, a class of fabrics or fibrous structures obtained through the interlocking of wool, fur, or some hair fibres under conditions of heat, moisture, and friction. Other fibres will not felt alone but...
pine
Pine, (genus Pinus), genus of about 115 species of evergreen conifers of the pine family (Pinaceae), distributed throughout the world but native primarily to northern temperate regions. Pines and other...
flax
Flax, (Linum usitatissimum), plant of the family Linaceae, cultivated both for its fibre, from which linen yarn and fabric are made, and for its nutritious seeds, called flaxseed or linseed, from which...