tussah silk
Silk fabric woven from silk made by wild, un
cultivated silkworms. Tussah is strong, but coarse and uneven. lt is naturally tau in color, cannot be bleached, and has a rougher
texture than
cultivated silk. lt is used in
shantung and
pongee. Wild silkworms eat leaves other than mulberry leaves eaten exclusively by silkworms. The difference in diet accounts for the different
fiber and fabric characteristics. Tussah is also used to describe fabrics designed to imitate this kind of silk. See
wild silk.