The Raffia palms (Raphia) are a genus of twenty species of palms native to tropical regions of Africa. They grow up to 16m tall and are remarkable for their compound pinnate leaves, the longest in the plant kingdom; leaves of up to 25.11m long and 3m wide are known. The plants are either monocarpic, flowering once and then dying after the seeds are mature, or hapaxanthic, with individual stems dying after fruiting but the root system remaining alive and sending up new stems....
Basically the leaf is taken
off to create a long thin fibre which can be dyed and woven as a
textile into products ranging from hats to shoes to decorative mats....
Even more basically...'Natural String'...people like to use it for stringing onions and other root veg together...available in a wide range of colours.
You can also drink it...email for more information...
