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A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

nytimes.com

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Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#61

Post by kragen »

pvaldes wrote: post #58
kragen wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

apparently https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_bholua and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_papyracea , the usual species for lokta paper, are in a different genus in the same family as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_chrysantha ; is it possible the argeli mentioned is an edgeworthia species rather than a daphne species? edit: twic found https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40039860 that it's edgeworthi…

Daphne is a complicated material to manipulate. All its parts are very poisonous. Edgeworthia is a little safer, it seems.

you're probably confusing it with the similar-looking oleander, i put daphne (laurel or bay leaves) in my soup. all parts of daphne are supposed to be poisonous but it's not in the same league as oleander

oleander is an unrelated plant, being a rosid rather than an asterid, but in some languages people use the same word for both because they both have thick and leathery dark green glossy lanceolate leaves, usually glabrous, with minute reticulate venation

edit: no, laurel or bay leaves are not daphne, they're laurus or one of several other genera. laurus is also unrelated to daphne, being a magnoliid. i don't know anything about how toxic daphne is. i regret the error, which was due to Δάφνη being the greek word for laurus nobilis, the laurel from which we get bay leaves for seasoning food

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#62

Post by kragen »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #60
kragen wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

presupposing a global hipster population of 100 million and paper consumption per hipster of one bullet journal per month, weighing perhaps 500 grams, we get 600 thousand tonnes per year of paper consumption, roughly four thousand times the amount the article tells us is being used to print banknotes. this seems like it could employ several hundred thousand people, but probably not nearly enough to run out of land su…

It wasn't about running out of land it was about the demand increasing prices to the point that locals could no longer make use of it.

those are the same thing, we aren't talking about logging nonrenewable old-growth forests here

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#63

Post by altilunium »

kragen wrote: post #42
Iambecomedeath wrote: post #9

We (Nepali) have been using this material to make lokta paper for a long time now. These papers (Nepali Kaagaz) are used mainly today for official documents.

apparently https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_bholua and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_papyracea , the usual species for lokta paper, are in a different genus in the same family as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_chrysantha ; is it possible the argeli mentioned is an edgeworthia species rather than a daphne species? edit: twic found https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40039860 that it's edgeworthi…

Found this excerpt from [1]

> I dedicate this beautiful genus to Mr. M. P. Edgeworth, Esq., to whom we owe a valuable description of the vegetation and agriculture in the Sikh states in northwestern India (Hooker's Journal of Botany, II. p. 267), and I combine this with the wish to also pay tribute to his famous sister, Miss Maria Edgeworth, who has become dear to all educated people through her writings, which are marked by rare depth and fullness of mind and spirit, as a warm admirer of nature and the natural sciences, with a modest monument.

Now I'm curious about the reason behind its "gardneri" name.

> Edgeworthia Gardneri nob. Tab. I. E. with petiolate, oblong-elliptic leaves, acute on both ends, glabrous above, slightly hairy below, peduncles thickened at the apex, hemispherical capitula, involucre with lanceolate acuminate leaves subequal to the flowers, flowers subvillous-tomentose with yellowish pubescence. Hab. in Nepal, where it was discovered by Mr. Wallich in 1820.

There are too many high-level botanical terms here, I can't understand anything.

[1] : https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34664378#page/293/m...

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#64

Post by CyberDildonics »

pests wrote: post #29
1jbdg wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Canada they last 8-16 years… polymer notes are unequivocally better. Corruption and inertia is the only reason they are not everywhere. As to plastic pollution, banknotes are already a closed, circular loop and hence you get the miracle properties of plastic without the downside.

I think the concern was with the plastic money shedding micro plastics or threads as it slowly degrades over time, like we're finding other plastic does like our clothing. Not saying enough to take out of circulation, but does it shed any particles during its life?

I think the concern was with the plastic money shedding micro plastics

Show me anyone who is actually 'concerned' about that with numbers to back up that there is any significance.

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#65

Post by pvaldes »

kragen wrote: post #61
pvaldes wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Daphne is a complicated material to manipulate. All its parts are very poisonous. Edgeworthia is a little safer, it seems.

you're probably confusing it with the similar-looking oleander, i put daphne (laurel or bay leaves) in my soup. all parts of daphne are supposed to be poisonous but it's not in the same league as oleander oleander is an unrelated plant, being a rosid rather than an asterid, but in some languages people use the same word for both because they both have thick and leathery dark green glossy lanceolate leaves, usually gl…

> you're probably confusing it with the similar-looking oleander

Not. Both are very different species.

Daphne is definitely in the same league as Nerium in terms of poison. Very innocent looking, very fragrant, very toxic. I would have it otherwise.

What you use in your kitchen is Laurus.

But beware the internet. What you --should not-- use in your kitchen is --this-- "Laurus".

http://www.paghat.com/laurel.html

That is in fact a toxic Prunus

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#67

Post by pvaldes »

kragen wrote: post #56
pvaldes wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hum. If is E. gardneri then is not culture, is dismantlement of the nepali forests to make money (literally). That would be very sad.

it says they're planting it and harvesting the plants after no more than three years so the bark doesn't redden, but looking at the photos in the article, it looks like the hill districts in question aren't very forested? google maps makes it look like there are in fact many forests there: https://www.google.com/maps/@26.9,88.5101152,20665m/data=!3m...

This mean (probably) harvesting the young branches of less than 3 years, but this shrubs should be much older. (Maybe in their native climate they grow faster?).

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#68

Post by cubefox »

CyberDildonics wrote: post #64
pests wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the concern was with the plastic money shedding micro plastics or threads as it slowly degrades over time, like we're finding other plastic does like our clothing. Not saying enough to take out of circulation, but does it shed any particles during its life?

I think the concern was with the plastic money shedding micro plastics Show me anyone who is actually 'concerned' about that with numbers to back up that there is any significance.

Here are some numbers (points on the left):

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=microplastics

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#69

Post by bigbillheck »

altilunium wrote: post #63
kragen wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

apparently https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_bholua and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_papyracea , the usual species for lokta paper, are in a different genus in the same family as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_chrysantha ; is it possible the argeli mentioned is an edgeworthia species rather than a daphne species? edit: twic found https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40039860 that it's edgeworthi…

Found this excerpt from [1] > I dedicate this beautiful genus to Mr. M. P. Edgeworth, Esq., to whom we owe a valuable description of the vegetation and agriculture in the Sikh states in northwestern India (Hooker's Journal of Botany, II. p. 267), and I combine this with the wish to also pay tribute to his famous sister, Miss Maria Edgeworth, who has become dear to all educated people through her writings, which are m…

> There are too many high-level botanical terms here, I can't understand anything.

That's easily fixable, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTsAFpSXj7Y

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#70

Post by themaninthedark »

justsomehnguy wrote: post #10
wenyuanyu wrote: post #4

Sourcing the raw material of bank notes from Nepal? Seems a bit off from an environmental standpoint by hauling materials halfway across the globe from Himalaya. How about plastic notes? They are durable, recyclable, and because they are money, not likely to end up in our oceans as wastes.

> from an environmental standpoint From an environmental standpoint all banknotes should be shredded and burned and everyone should use contactless means of payment.

Why?

Are you sure it is more environmental to keep all the computers, the network and other related infrastructure running (powered on, security updated, etc.) than it is to print and distribute banknotes every so many years and associated costs with that?

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