Bast fibre

Some of the economically important bast fibres are obtained from herbs cultivated in agriculture, for instance flax, hemp, or ramie, but bast fibres from wild plants, such as stinging nettle, and trees such as lime or linden, willow, oak, wisteria, and mulberry have also been used.

[2] Since the valuable fibres are located in the phloem, they must often be separated from the woody core, the xylem, and sometimes also from the epidermis.

The process for this is retting, and can be performed by micro-organisms either on land (nowadays the most important) or in water, or by chemicals (for instance high pH and chelating agents), or by pectinolytic enzymes.

In the phloem, bast fibres occur in bundles that are glued together by pectin and calcium ions.

[citation needed] Bast fiber from oak trees forms the oldest preserved woven fabrics in the world.