<Li> Musa tikap Warburg </Li> <Li> Musa troglodytàrum textòria Blanco </Li> <P> Abacá (/ ɑː bəˈkɑː / ah - bə - KAH; Filipino: Abaka (ɐbɐˈka)), binomial name Musa textilis, is a species of banana native to the Philippines, grown as a commercial crop in the Philippines, Ecuador, and Costa Rica . The plant, also known as Manila hemp, has great economic importance, being harvested for its fiber, also called Manila hemp, extracted from the leaf - stems . The plant grows to 13--22 feet (4.0--6.7 m), and averages about 12 feet (3.7 m). The fiber was originally used for making twines and ropes; now most is pulped and used in a variety of specialized paper products including tea bags, filter paper and banknotes . It is classified as a hard fiber, along with coir, henequin and sisal . </P> <P> The abacá plant is stoloniferous, meaning that the plant produces runners or shoots along the ground that then root at each segment . Cutting and transplanting rooted runners is the primary technique for creating new plants, since seed growth is substantially slower . Abacá has a "false trunk" or pseudostem about 6--15 inches (15--38 cm) in diameter . The leaf stalks (petioles) are expanded at the base to form sheaths that are tightly wrapped together to form the pseudostem . There are from 12 to 25 leaves, dark green on the top and pale green on the underside, sometimes with large brown patches . They are oblong in shape with a deltoid base . They grow in succession . The petioles grow to at least 1 foot (30 cm) in length . When the plant is mature, the flower stalk grows up inside the pseudostem . The male flower has 5 petals, each about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) long . The leaf sheaths contain the valuable fiber . After harvesting, the coarse fibers range in length from 6--12 feet (180--370 cm) long . They are composed primarily of cellulose, lignin, and pectin . </P>

Manila is a fiber extracted from the leaves of