The Common Vegetable Used is Amaranthus spinosus (Efo Dagunro in yoruba)
RESEARCH WAS CARRIED OUT ON THE PROCESSES AND USE OF AMARANTHUS SPINOSUS FOR PAPER MAKING

The study was carried out to determine fibre dimensions in xylem tissues and production of paper from Amaranthus spinosus. Fibre samples were collected from the basal part of the stem of randomly selected Amaranthus plants. Significant variations were observed for fibre Length, co-efficient of flexibility and relative fibre length at 5% level of probability, Fibre obtained from xylem of Amaranthus spinosus offer possibility for use as good pulping material, This is due to the advantages they showed over woody plants in terms of environmental pollution. The use of woody plants (because it involves deforestation) contribute immensely to greenhouse effect and desertification. Amaranthus spinosus however possess high flexibility co-efficient and lowRunkel ratios, which are determinants for good paper quality.

Amaranthus species are a highly popular group of vegetable that belong to the family Amaranthaceae. It comprises of about 70 species of which about 40 are native to the Americans. It includes at least 17 species with edible leaves. Amaranthaceae shows a wide variety of morphological diversity among and even within certain species. (Sauer, 1995).

Amaranthus spinosus Linn. is an erect, spinous annual or perennial herb varying in colour from green to purple, is widely distributed throughout the tropics and warm temperate regions. It is a common weed of waste places, roadsides, path sides and near rivers in temperate Africa.It often occurs as an invasive weed and is rarely cultivated. The plant has a long history of usage in traditional medicine against various ailments around the world (Barku et al., 2013).

Some common Uses of Amaranthus spinosus are listed

As food: Like several related species, Amaranthus spinosus is a valued food plant in Africa. Its leaves and young plant are collected for home as a cooked, steamed or fried vegetable, leaves are occasionally found for sales on market. It is also used as forage and said to increase milk production in cattle. However, the spines can cause injury to mouth of gazing animals and cases of poisoning in cattle have also been reported.

Medicinal: Amaranthus spinosus has numerous medicinal uses. The root is known as an effective diuretic.

Dye: Yellow and green dye can be obtained from the whole plant. A red pigment obtained from the plant is used as colouring in food and medicine.

Industrial use: Amaranthus spinosus has been known to contain short fibres and relatively short tissues which is used in paper production and also prevent the falling of economical trees. And can serve as suitable supplement to long, sender tracheids of pinus pulpwood (Oladele 1986).

On the global scale the non-wood fibres are a minor part of raw material supply to paper in many countries, however, they are still significant importance in terms of overall volume and as a percentage of total pulp supply. However, the use of non-wood fibre sources has been relatively limited. Examples of these unexploited non-wood plants includes Amaranthus spinosus, Sida acuta, Ricinus communis (castor oil plant), Jatropha podagrica and Jatropha curcas.

The vegetable was used because, a supplement to using woody trees as raw materials for paper production needs to be checked. With ongoing trends about climate change and global warming, there is a strong need to preserve our forests......

The paper production was carried out manually, the procedure is discussed below, using pictorial explanation in each stage.......http://www.wdsxploit.com/index.php/2016/10/04/research-indicates-that-the-common-vegetable-efo-dagunro-can-be-used-to-produce-paper/