Boehmeria nivea

Ramie, rhea, China grass

Family Urticaceae

Boehmeria nivea, ramie, rhea, China grass (B. nivea 1), is a monoecious perennial, up to 3 m tall, with alternate simple and serrated leaves, which are hairy beneath. The small unisexual flowers are borne in axillary panicles; the male ones with 5 stamens, the female ones in the upper part of the inflorescence with 1-seeded ovary. The fruit is a small achene.
Boehmeria is called after the German botanist Georg Rudolf Boehmer (1723-1803).

Distribution
Ramie is a native of eastern Asia and has been cultivated in China since ancient times. It has been distributed to most tropical countries, but has never been very successful outside its natural range.

Use
The stem yields a bast fibre with outstanding qualities (B. nivea 2) and a high tensile strength, but separating the fibres from the stem is difficult and expensive. Ramie is used in a similar way to flax (Linum usitatissimum) and hemp (Cannabis sativus). It is made into twine and thread, used for making nets, sailcloth, shoe laces, fire-hoses and the like. The fibre is spun and the cloth, known as Chinese linen, is used for tablecloths, mats and clothes. Because of its hygroscopic properties, it is made into underwear and bed sheaths in the tropics. Although since the beginning of the 19th century ramie has got a lot of publicity, it is still not grown on a large scale outside China and Japan.