Henequen

Description

A hard, strong, reddish fiber obtained from the leaves of the Agave fourcroydes native to the Yucatan. Henequen has been used for coarse fabrics since prehistoric times. Similar to Sisal, henequen is a coarse, stiff fiber that is used for making ropes and twine.

Synonyms and Related Terms

Yucatan sisal; Cuban sisal; henequin; Mexican sisal; sisal weisz; Victoria sisal; Agave fourcroydes; sisal, henequén de Cuba (Esp.)

Resources and Citations

• G.Cook, Handbook of Textile Fibres:I. Natural Fibres, 5th edition, Merrow Publishing Co., Durham, England, 1984.

• Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Dictionary of Fiber & Textile Technology (older version called Man-made Fiber and Textile Dictionary, 1965), Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Charlotte NC, 1990

• Marjory L. Joseph, Introductory Textile Science, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Fort Worth, TX, 1986

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 727

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

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

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