vegetable silk

American  

noun

1. a fine, glossy fiber, similar to silk cotton, from the seeds of a spiny Brazilian tree, Chorisia speciosa.

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vegetable silk British  

noun

1. any of various silky fibres obtained from the seed pods of certain plants See also kapok

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Etymology

Origin of vegetable silk

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

It was composed of a variety of fibres closely interwoven with some kind of vegetable silk, and was lined principally with horsehair and very fine fibres.

From The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 by Hume, Allan Octavian

The third is the cheese-tree, called baga by the natives, from the capsules of which a fine and brilliant vegetable silk is yielded.

From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 19 — Travel and Adventure by Hammerton, John Alexander, Sir

This vegetable silk is contained in a soft pod or bladder about the size of an orange.

From The Nile tributaries of Abyssinia, and the sword hunters of the Hamran arabs by Baker, Samuel White, Sir

This and other species yield various important products, the chief being the fibre obtained by maceration from the leaves and roots, and known commercially as American aloe, pita flax, or vegetable silk.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 1 A to Amide by Various

He could never make out how he had attained the footing of intimacy in the Dunster mansion above the bay—whether on the ground of personal merit or as the pioneer of the vegetable silk industry. 

From Within the Tides by Conrad, Joseph