What Is Rubber Tree

Rubber elastic substance obtained from the exudations of certain tropical plants natural rubber or derived from petroleum and natural gas synthetic rubber.

What is rubber tree. Because of its elasticity resilience and toughness rubber is the basic constituent of the tires used in automotive vehicles aircraft and bicycles. Cultivated on plantations in the tropics and subtropics especially in southeast asia and western africa it replaced the rubber plant in the early 20th century as the chief source of natural rubber. Rubber trees are low maintenance. When learning how to care for a rubber tree plant there are a few key things to remember but rubber plant care isn t as difficult as one might think.

In the wild the rubber tree will grow to heights of 100 to 130 feet and can live up to 100 years. Water your rubber tree when the soil is slightly dry to the touch. Rubber tree south american tropical tree of the spurge family euphorbiaceae. Rubber tree definition any tree that yields latex from which rubber is produced especially hevea brasiliensis of the spurge family native to south america the chief commercial source of rubber.

Feed your rubber tree with a general purpose fertilizer a few times a year especially. Hevea brasiliensis the pará rubber tree sharinga tree seringueira or most commonly the rubber tree or rubber plant is a flowering plant belonging to the spurge family euphorbiaceae it is the most economically important member of the genus hevea because the milky latex extracted from the tree is the primary source of natural rubber. And don t get overly zealous. More than half of all rubber produced goes into automobile tires.

Its most famous feature is the milky white sap known as latex which flows freely from the tree when a sliver of bark is removed. The latex then is refined into rubber that is ready for commercial processing. During world war ii supplies of natural rubber from these nations were cut off just when there was a huge demand from the military. A rubber tree plant is also known as a ficus elastica these large trees can grow up to 50 feet 15 m tall.

The rest goes. The latex is a sticky milky colloid drawn off by making incisions in the bark and collecting the fluid in vessels in a process called tapping. Watering too frequently may cause leaf yellowing. Rubber trees formally ficus elastica can be enjoyed as either medium sized house plants or grown to become focal point beautiful indoor trees if you re patient enough to grow your own plants that start out younger when you buy them adapt better to indoor living than starting with a more mature plant.

Currently rubber is harvested mainly in the form of the latex from the rubber tree or others.