Merino

Merino Sheep

Description

A high-quality, naturally crimped Wool obtained from merino sheep. First bred in Spain in the 14th century, merino sheep are thought to produce the finest wool in the world. Australia and New Zealand are currently the world's leading producers of merino wool. Merino wool has a thin diameter (less than 24 micrometers) with 6 to 24 crimps per inch. It is soft, elastic and resilient. Merino wool is used in high quality woolen and Worsted fabrics. Occasionally the name merino is applied to any fine wool even if it was not obtained from the merino sheep.

Synonyms and Related Terms

botany wool; Merinoschaf (Deut.); merynosy (Pol.); lana de merino (Esp.); merino schaap (Ned); merinosgaren (Ned);

Additional Images

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  Merino wool group

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  Merino wool single

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  Merino wool fibers at 200x

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  Merino wool fibers at 200x polarized light

Resources and Citations

• Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com Comment: Merino. Retrieved June 5, 2003. Color photo.

• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merino (Accessed Nov. 9, 2005)

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

• Rosalie Rosso King, Textile Identification, Conservation, and Preservation, Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, NJ, 1985

• Website: www.fabrics.net

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 879

• 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