Esparto grass

Esparto grass Lygeum spartum

Description

A tough, coarse, spiky grass (Stipa tenacissima or Lygeum spartum) native to southern Spain and northern Africa. The best grades are thought to come from Spain (Spanish grass) while less expensive grades come from northern Africa (Tripoli). The slender, wiry grass was used for basketry, ropes, and mats since ancient times. The gray-green spear-like leaves of this desert plant produce fine, light fibers that are about one centimeter long. The fibers have a high proportion of Alpha cellulose. They produce a high-quality, lightweight paper that is used for writing papers as well as for intaglio color printing. Esparto fibers are used extensively in England and Scotland for the production of paper, but rarely used in the U.S. because Wood pulp is plentiful. The presence of esparto in a paper may be determined by the Hertzberg test (iodine-chloride solution - positive stains deep violet) or by boiling the specimen in 1% solution of Aniline (positive turns pink) (Roberts and Etherington 1982).

Esparto grass Stipa spp.

Synonyms and Related Terms

Stipa tenacissima; Lygeum spartum; alfa grass; alpha grass; halfa grass; Spanish grass; esparto fibers; sparto; tripoli; esparto (Esp.); esparto (gras) (Stipa tenacissima)=spartelgras (Ned);

Other Properties

Fibers are about 1 cm in length.

Paper fiber type: grass. Using transmitted light microscopy, fibers appear thick-walled, short and cylindrical with pointed ends. Associated cells for identification: comma-shaped cells are unique to Esparto, and serrated epidermal cells (tricomb cells) are present in all grasses. Appearance with Graff "C" stain: dark blue. Average dimensions of fibers: length 1.2mm; width 13μm. Common pulping method: Soda.

Additional Information

° E.J.LaBarre, Dictionary and Encyclopedia of Paper and Paper-making, Swets & Zeitlinger, Amsterdam, 1969.

° M.Roberts, D.Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1982.

Additional Images

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  Esparto

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  Esparto stained with Graff "C" stain

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  Esparto tricomb cells

Authority

• Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com Comment: esparto" Encyclopædia Britannica [Accessed October 17, 2001].

• Marja-Sisko Ilvessalo-Pfäffli. Fiber Atlas: Identification of Papermaking Fibers (Springer Series in Wood Science). Springer, 1995.

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• The Dictionary of Paper, American Paper Institute, New York, Fourth Edition, 1980

• E.J.LaBarre, Dictionary and Encyclopedia of Paper and Paper-making, Swets & Zeitlinger, Amsterdam, 1969

• R. J. Gettens, G.L. Stout, Painting Materials, A Short Encyclopaedia, Dover Publications, New York, 1966

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 579

• Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: Esparto. Accessed Oct. 30, 2004