Second to feed-plants, fibre plants have been the most important crops in the history of mankind. In prehistoric times man already used fibres for clothing, bows, nets, ropes and shelter, because animal skins were too heavy or too impractical for some of these purposes. In the course of time probably many hundreds of plant species were used. Although the number of fibre plants commercially used today is not very high, they still include species that were used in the Stone Age period, like flax, Linum usitatissimum, (Fibre plants 3).

Fibres are long stretched cells or bundles of cells (Fibre plants 2), their walls thickened with celluloid and lignin. They occur in tens of plant families and can be grouped economically into textile fibres; brush fibres, used in the manufacture if brushes and brooms; rough weaving fibres, used in making mats, baskets etc.; filling fibres, for stuffing mattresses, cushions and pillows; and paper-making fibres, esp. wood fibres, for the manufacture of paper.
Textile fibres are the most important ones as they are connected with the textile industry. This industry is concerned with the manufacture of fabrics, netting and cordage. For making fabrics and netting, the fibres are twisted together into yarn and thereafter woven, spun and knitted. For making cordage, the individual fibres are twisted together rather than woven.
Textile fibres are always long and fall into three categories:
(1) surface fibres which are borne externally, like cotton and kapok;
(2) bast or soft fibres from the bark of dicotyledenous plants like flax, ramie, hemp and jute; and
(3) hard fibres in the leaves of monocotyledonous plants like sisal.
Surface fibres are chiefly used for textiles and as stuffing materials; soft fibres mostly for weaving, and hard fibres for cordage (twines and ropes). Well known examples of fibre yielding plants are:
- cotton, Gossypium sp., the long fibres being attached to the seeds as pappus, are used for threads and textiles, the shorter ones for the manufacture of artificial silk and paper;
- flax, Linum usitatissimum, the up to 120 cm long bark fibres are used for textiles, tissues, and ropes (Fibre plants 1);
- white jute, Corchorus capsularis, and tossa jute, Corchorus olitorius (see Corchorus capsularis), both with up to 2 m long bark fibres, are especially cultivated in India and are used for sacking, tough cloths, and backsides of carpets;
- aramina fibre or Congo jute, Urena lobata (see Hibiscus sabdariffa), together with sunn hemp, Crotalaria juncea, which is second in importance to white jute, are important fibre plants in India. The fibres not only are used in the manufacture of sacking and cordage, but also for cigarette paper and paper napkins;
- ramie or China grass, Boehmeria nivea, is used in a similar manner to flax and hemp. It is made into twine, thread, sail cloth, tablecloth and mats;
- coir, the coarse cocos fibre, Cocos nucifera, is used in the manufacture of floor mats, brushes and cordage;
- kapok, Ceiba pentandra, with ultra light fibres, is used as filling material in mattresses and pillows, for padding of clothes and as insulation material.

Other important fibres used in the manufacture of cordage, ropes and threads are:
- hemp, Cannabis sativa;
- sisal, Agave sisilana;
- henequin, Agave fourcroydes (see Agave sisilana);
- Mauritius hemp, Furcraea gigantea (see Agave sisilana);
- New-Zealand flax, Phormium tenax (see Agave sisilana);
- Manila hemp or abaca, Musa textilis, see Musa sapientum, is mainly used in the manufacture of marine ropes and in the fishing industry because of its resistance to salt and fresh water.
- kenaf, Bimli jute or Deccan hemp, Hibiscus cannabinus, and roselle, Hibiscus sabdariffa, are used in a similar manner to jute for rope and cordage, fishing nets, bags and canvas;
- pita fibre, Aechmea magdalenae (see Ananas comosus), is used as sewing thread for leatherwork, shoe soles and for fishing nets.