Sisal (, ; Agave sisalana) is a species of flowering plant native to southern Mexico, but widely cultivated and naturalized in many other countries. It yields a stiff leaf fiber used in making rope and various other products. The sisal fiber is traditionally used for rope and twine, and has many other uses, including cloth, footwear, hats, bags, carpets, geotextiles, and dartboards. It is also used as fiber reinforcements for composite fiberglass, rubber, and concrete products. Like other agaves, the pith of the leaves can be fermented and distilled to make mezcal.
Sisal has an uncertain native origin, but is thought to have originated in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Historically, sisal was used by the Aztecs and Maya for a crude fabric. It spread to other parts of the world in the 19th century, with Brazil becoming the major producer. Global sisal production in 2020 was 210,000 tons, with Brazil being the largest producer, followed by Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar, China, and Mexico.
Sisal is a tropical and subtropical plant, thriving in temperatures above and sunshine. It is propagated using bulbils or suckers and can be improved genetically through tissue culture. Sisal plants have a lifespan of 7–10 years, producing 200–250 usable leaves containing fibers used in various applications. Fibers are extracted by crushing the leaves and are then dried, brushed, and baled for export.
Sisal farming initially led to environmental degradation, but it is now considered less damaging than other farming types. Sisal is an invasive species in Hawaii and Florida.
Taxonomy
The native origin of Agave sisalana is uncertain. Traditionally, it was deemed to be a native of the Yucatán Peninsula, but no records exist of botanical collections from there. They were originally shipped from the Spanish colonial port of Sisal in Yucatán (thus the name). The Yucatán plantations now cultivate henequen (Agave fourcroydes).
H. S. Gentry hypothesized a Chiapas origin, on the strength of traditional local usage. Evidence of an indigenous cottage industry there suggests it as the original habitat location, possibly as a cross of Agave angustifolia and Agave kewensis. The species is now naturalized in other parts of Mexico, as well as in Spain, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Madagascar, Réunion, Seychelles, many parts of Africa, China, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, the Solomon Islands, Queensland, Fiji, Hawaii, Florida, Central America, Ecuador, and the West Indies.
Plant description
Sisal plants consist of a rosette of sword-shaped leaves about tall. Young leaves may have a few minute teeth along their margins, but lose them as they mature.
The sisal plant has a 7- to 10-year lifespan and typically produces 200–250 commercially usable leaves. Each leaf contains around 1000 fibers. The fibers account for only about 4% of the plant by weight. Sisal is considered a plant of the tropics and subtropics, since production benefits from temperatures above and sunshine.
In the 19th century, sisal cultivation spread to Florida, the Caribbean islands, and Brazil (Paraiba and Bahia), as well as to countries in Africa, notably Tanzania and Kenya, and Asia. Sisal reportedly "came to Africa from Florida, through the mechanism of a remarkable German botanist, by the name of Hindorf."
In Cuba its cultivation was introduced in 1880 by Fernando Heydrich in Matanzas.
The first commercial plantings in Brazil were made in the late 1930s, and the first sisal fiber exports from there were made in 1948. Brazilian production did not accelerate until the 1960s, and the first of many spinning mills was established. Today, Brazil is the major world producer of sisal.
Fiber extraction
Fiber is extracted by a process known as decortication, where leaves are crushed, beaten, and brushed away by a rotating wheel set with blunt knives, so that only fibers remain. Alternatively, in East Africa, where production is typically on large estates, the leaves are transported to a central decortication plant, where water is used to wash away the waste parts of the leaves.
The fiber is then dried, brushed, and baled for export. Proper drying is important, as fiber quality depends largely on moisture content. Artificial drying has been found to result in generally better grades of fiber than sun drying, but is not always feasible in the less industrialized countries where sisal is produced. In the drier climate of northeast Brazil, sisal is mainly grown by smallholders and the fiber is extracted by teams using portable raspadors, which do not use water.
Sisal is considered to be an invasive species in Hawaii and Florida.
Uses
thumb|Sisal wall covering (the gray below the wooden cornice) in a [[Latter-day Saints meetinghouse. Due to its common use in meetinghouses, it has become a meme in Mormon culture.]]
thumb|Weaving a door mat in Uganda
Traditionally, sisal has been the leading material for agricultural twine (binder twine and baler twine) because of its strength, durability, ability to stretch, affinity for certain dyestuffs, and resistance to deterioration in saltwater. The importance of this traditional use is diminishing with competition from polypropylene and the development of other haymaking techniques, while new higher-valued sisal products have been developed.
Apart from ropes, twines, and general cordage, sisal is used in low-cost and specialty paper, dartboards, buffing cloth, filters, geotextiles, mattresses, carpets, handicrafts, wire rope cores, and macramé.
Sisal walls were used very frequently in the construction of Mormon meetinghouses built between 1985 and 2010. Because of its frequent use, it has become a meme in Mormon culture.
As extraction of fiber uses only a small percentage of the plant, some attempts to improve economic viability have focused on using the waste material for production of biogas, for stockfeed, or the extraction of pharmaceutical materials.
Sisal is a valuable forage for honeybees because of its long flowering period. It is particularly attractive to them during pollen shortage. The honey produced, however, is dark and has a strong and unpleasant flavor.
Because sisal is an agave, it can be fermented and distilled to make mezcal. In India, it may be an ingredient in some street snacks.
Carpets
Despite the yarn durability for which sisal is known, slight matting of sisal carpeting may occur in high-traffic areas.
Global production and trade patterns
{| style="float:right;" class="wikitable"
|+ Major sisal <br>producers—2020<br>(thousands of tonnes)
|-
| || style="text-align:right;"| 86.1
|-
| || style="text-align:right;"| 36.4
|-
| || style="text-align:right;"| 22.8
|-
| || style="text-align:right;"| 17.6
|-
| || style="text-align:right;"| 14.0
|-
| || style="text-align:right;"| 13.1
|-
| || style="text-align:right;"| 12.0
|-
|World total || style="text-align:right;"| 209.9
|}
Global production of sisal fiber in 2020 amounted to 210 thousand metric tons, of which Brazil, the largest producing country, produced 86,061 tons.
Heraldry
The sisal plant appears in the coat of arms of Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
An unofficial coat of arms for the Mexican state of Yucatán features a deer bounding over a sisal plant.
In literature
Journalist John Gunther wrote of sisal in 1953, "if it had not been for the fact that sisal is a difficult crop, there might not have been a Munich in 1939. Neville Chamberlain started out life as a sisal planter in the Bahamas, and only returned to Britain and entered politics when he found that this obdurate vegetable was too hard to grow."