Soft and strong fibrous structures and methods for making same

Abstract

Soft and strong fibrous structures and more particularly soft and strong fibrous structures that contains less softwood fibers than known fibrous structures and methods for making such soft and strong fibrous structures are provided.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A fibrous structure exhibiting a basis weight of from about 10 to about 120 g/m 2 , wherein the fibrous structure comprises greater than 50% by weight on a dry fiber basis of pulp fibers, wherein greater than 0% and less than 20% by weight on a dry fiber basis of the pulp fibers are softwood fibers, and wherein the weight ratio of softwood fibers to non-softwood fibers within the fibrous structure is less than 1:4. 
     
     
         2 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , comprising greater than 75% by weight on a dry fiber basis of pulp fibers. 
     
     
         3 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , comprising greater than 90% by weight on a dry fiber basis of pulp fibers. 
     
     
         4 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , wherein the pulp fibers comprise trichome fibers, and wherein one of trichome fibers is derived from a plant in the  Stachys  genus. 
     
     
         5 . The fibrous structure of  claim 4 , wherein one of the trichome fibers is derived from a plant  Stachys byzantina.    
     
     
         6 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , comprising tropical hardwood fibers selected from the group consisting of: eucalyptus fibers, acacia fibers, and mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , comprising less than 50% by weight on a dry fiber basis of hardwood fibers. 
     
     
         8 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , wherein the fibrous structure is void of hardwood fibers. 
     
     
         9 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , wherein the softwood fibers comprise one of northern softwood kraft fibers and southern kraft fibers. 
     
     
         10 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , comprising one or more synthetic fibers. 
     
     
         11 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , wherein the fibrous structure comprises layers, and wherein the pulp fibers in an exterior layer of the fibrous structure comprise one or more trichome fibers. 
     
     
         12 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , comprising a softening agent. 
     
     
         13 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , exhibiting a basis weight of greater than 21 g/m 2 . 
     
     
         14 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , wherein the pulp fibers comprise trichome fibers. 
     
     
         15 . The fibrous structure of  claim 1 , wherein the fibrous structure is a sanitary tissue product.