a plant raised for fiber. Fiber crops include annual and perennial species of different botanical families. The fiber may be obtained from the seeds (cotton), the fruit (Ceiba pentandrd), the stalks (bast plants), or the leaves (agave and New Zealand flax). In world agriculture, cotton, jute, hemp, flax, and kenaf occupy the greatest areas; in the USSR cotton, flax, and hemp are the most important fiber crops. The fibers are used by the textile industry.