Bark (botany) rope, used for example in the rigging of Viking age longships. Among the commercial products made from bark are cork, cinnamon, quinine (from the bark of Cinchona) and aspirin (from the bark of willow trees). The bark of some trees notably oak ("Quercus robur") is a source of tannic acid, which is used in tanning. Bark chips generated as a by-product of lumber production are often used in bark mulch in western North America. Bark is important to the horticultural industry since in shredded form it is used for plants that do not thrive in ordinary soil, such as epiphytes.
History of aspirin as the Great Phenol Plot. By 1915, the price of phenol rose to the point that Bayer's aspirin plant was forced to drastically cut production. This was especially problematic because Bayer was instituting a new branding strategy in preparation of the expiry of the aspirin patent in the United States. Thomas Edison, who needed phenol to manufacture phonograph records, was also facing supply problems; in response, he created a phenol factory capable of pumping out twelve tons per day. Edison's excess phenol seemed destined for trinitrophenol production. Although the United States remained officially neutral until April 1917, it was increasingly