Part 65. Uses of industrial plants. By industrial plants we mean those which yield raw materials or products used in the industrial arts; that is to say, in such industries as spinning, weaving, building, paper-making, tanning, dyeing, and painting. Industrial plants cannot be separated entirely from edible and medicinal plants any more than those economic groups can be distinguished sharply one from the other; for, as we shall see, there are industrial plants which also yield food or medicine or both.

As with the economic plants already studied, so with these, we shall find it convenient to classify them according to the useful products which they yield. Out of the immense number of industrial plants more or less useful to mankind, we can here consider only a few of the most important which yield fibers, woods, cork, elastic gums, resins, coloring matters, tannins, oils, and fuels.