Hevea brasiliensis seed
LATIN NAME: Hevea brasiliensis
COMMON NAME: Rubber Tree
The rubber tree is the tall, milky tree of the warm plantation, and the small, cream flowers hide among the broad, oval leaves. The tall, fast-growing, evergreen tree carries the broad, oval, glossy leaves with the fine, pointed tips and the small, cream or yellow-green flowers in the loose clusters through the warm season, to be followed by the round, three-lobed capsules of the large, mottled seeds. The milky latex has a long record as the rubber of the modern world, and the tree is a fine, historic presence of the warm plantation. It is a tree of the open, sunny, deep, moist, well-drained ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The rubber tree is a historic subject of the plant science, and the milky latex keeps showing up in the work on the natural-rubber crops. The way the tree yields the latex of the tyres and the hoses has been examined closely, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the latex crops, the plantation breeding and the members of the spurge family. The broad, oval leaves and the tall, fast habit have also made it a fine study tree, and the rubber tree is a regular subject of the work on the milky trees of the warm world.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
The rubber tree is a fine, historic tree of the warm plantation and the study collection. The milky latex has a long record as the rubber of the modern world, tapped from the bark of the mature trees into the sheets and the balls of the trade that have made the tyres, the boots and the hoses of the daily life, and the broad, glossy leaves give the fine, green crown of the plantation. The tree is one of the fine choices for the warm plantation, the estate garden and the study collection, and the mottled seeds follow in the round capsules. It has been written up in the industrial and the botanical papers for the milky latex and the long modern history, and it is a fine, historic tree of the open, sunny, deep, moist, well-drained garden.
Keep the young trees in the warm, sheltered corner for the first years, and the latex will come from the mature bark.
To grow the rubber tree from seed, sow the large, brown seeds a centimetre down in trays of fine seed compost, keep the trays in a warm, bright spot and water gently, then set the young plants out after the last frosts. The seedlings show themselves within a few weeks and grow on fast. With the sun, the warmth and the deep, moist, well-drained ground, the milky tree will rise through the years.
Hevea brasiliensis, the Pará rubber tree, often simply called rubber tree, is a tree belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae, and the most economically important member of the genus Hevea. It is of major economic importance because its sap-like extract (known as latex) is the primary source of natural rubber.