ornamental whips. One travel writer referred to these souvenirs as works of art that "exhibit refined taste and excellent workmanship." Objects such as fans sometimes had a lacebark substrate to which dried specimens of local flora were attached. Production of lacebark items (even as souvenirs) started tailing off in the early 20th century, largely because of the increasing rarity of the trees but also partly because of the labor-intensive nature of harvesting work and (after World War II) a decline of interest in traditional crafts. Lacebark crafts had nearly vanished by the 1960s, and an attempted revival in the 1980s sputtered out for a variety of reasons, among them the continuing threats to lacebark habitat that made it difficult to establish reliable supply chains. Lacebark is less well known than other textiles made from plant fibers, such as tapa cloth. It is uncertain whether the Taino Amerindians, the former inhabitants of the Caribbean islands to which the genus Lagetta is native, ever made lacebark. It has been suggested that the tree's use for textiles may have followed the arrival of slaves from West Africa, where there is a long tradition of barkcloth. Lacebark appears early in European writing about Jamaica; for example, Sir Hans Sloane mentions it in his account of a trip to the island in the 1680s. "What is most strange in this Tree is, that the inward bark is made up of about twelve Coats, Layers, or Tunicles, appearing white and solid, which if cut off for some Length, clear'd of its outward Cuticula, or Bark, and extended by the Fingers, the Filaments or Threads thereof leaving some rhomboidal Interstices, greater or smaller according to the Dimensions you extend it to, form a Web not unlike Gause, Lace, or thin Muslin." See also Barkcloth Cedar bark textile Tapa cloth References Thymelaeoideae Flora of Jamaica Flora of Haiti Flora of the Dominican Republic Flora of Cuba Fiber plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status