Tree of the week: Rubber tree

Good morning, Mark Sanchez, it's time to rise and shine and show the world what you're made of.

It is beginning to feel like fall in our corner of the world -- dusk didn't linger last night, and today is the last day of tee-ball for the season. But we still have Pieter Severynen's year-round treat, Tree of the Week.

Rubber Tree – Ficus elastica

The rubber tree is best known as an indoor container plant with large shiny leaves that will tolerate shady areas. But liberate it from its confinement, plant it outdoors in our mild environment, and in true Ficus (fig tree) fashion the tree will try to take over, as many Southlanders have discovered.

There is nothing refined about this evergreen tree, whose ancestral home area stretches from northeast India through Malaysia. Here it can grow fast into a 40-foot-tall, 40-foot-wide, coarse-textured, broad and dense symmetrical tree. Masses of aerial roots hang down from the heavy branches, which are brittle and subject to breakage if not trained for structural strength. Trunk is a shiny light gray color. Roots go wherever they want to go and need lots of room. The leathery, elliptical leaves are 8-12 inches long, glossy, and green, reddish or variegated, depending on the variety; a pinkish sheath initially surrounds each leaf and drops off when the leaf unfolds. Leaf drop is messy. Milky white latex bleeds out when a leaf breaks off and may irritate the skin. Characteristic of all fig trees, the flowers are not visible; they are borne internally within the partially hollow fruits. In the trees’ native range the female flowers are fertilized by tiny (1 mm) gall wasps that co-evolved with the trees. They lay their eggs inside the young fruit, which then becomes the food supply for the new larvae. Figs can also grow parthenogenetically, i.e. without benefit of pollination. Figs on the rubber tree are only ½ inch in size. Although the shady tropical jungle is its home, the tree can endure considerable drought and will take sun or shade. In wet climates the tree can become invasive. 

There are over 1,000 species within the Ficus genus. Latex from the rubber tree was used to make natural rubber, hence the name. But in the early 1800s the Para rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, from the Amazon rainforest, was found to be a much more abundant source of rubber-producing latex. By the turn of the century most Hevea rubber tree plantations were located in Southeast Asia.

Thanks, Pieter.

-- Peter Viles

Your thoughts? Comments?
Photo Credit: Pieter Severynen

Comments

[MyLessThanPrimeBeef]

Thank Buddha that Siddhartha was born (itself an unfortunate act in Bhddhism for any soul) before Hevea was introduced to take fig's place in Southeast Asia; otherwise he might never have achieved enlightenment under Ficus Religiosa (Sacred Fig).

[Uncle Billy Eats Tainted Haggis]

MLTPB: I simply must get you together with a friend of mine. Do you do yoga too?

[Uncle Billy Eats Tainted Haggis]

Random thought:

Pieter: In the news and blogs we see much about figurative trees and forests. Here you talk about individual kinds of trees. Can you give us a little insider information about the kinds of forests we have around Los Angeles and Southern California. Do *have* a forest in LA county?

[peteviles]

Uncle Billy writes, "Can you give us a little insider information about the kinds of forests we have around Los Angeles and Southern California?"

Thanks Uncle B. I'm sure you know about Angeles National Forest, it's massive. I'll ask Pieter if he's interested in writing about forests or parks or other groupings of trees.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/angeles/

[syscom3]

Why is a tropical rainforest tree even allowed in southern California?

Chop it down and put in a coastal live oak!

[mbob]

Unk Willy

The Angeles National Forest is, for the most part, like the Holy Roman Empire that was none of its descriptors, not made up of "forest." It's a whole lotta "coyote brush" and drought tolerant, ah, shrubbery.

Y cuidado muchacho, mucho los nativos del Sierras puede matar usted.

Lo siento para mi Espanol muy malo.

[Uncle Billy Eats Tainted Words]

Completely forgot that L.A. County doesn't stop at Santa Clarita or the Foothill cities. Not being snarkalicious. Just don't associate all that land with "L.A."

Thanks Pete Viles. Would be curious what he has to say about our local forest(s).

mbob: I know! i come from Canada originally so I have a hard time calling most of that stuff forest. My best to Roger the Shrubber.

I think I've unconsciously avoided going out there as well because we usually only hear about it in connection with crime or rainfall.

[MyLessThanPrimeBeef]

Uncle Billy, that would be nice. Does she have camel legs?

[Willie]

CAUTION!!! Don't put one of those trees near your house or the sidewalk. It will destroy the plumming around your house, it will lift your house, break the slab or foundation, and destroy the sidewalk.

[Uncle Billy Eats Tainted Words]

MLTPB: Well it's a he, but kind of. Knows the history of Buddhism almost as well as Allan Watts and Wikipedia. But you guys have exactly the same sense of humor and taste for arcana (member of the legume family, tastes like chicken).

Regarding last post, we can probably divide the tree world nicely into two groups: trees that break houses and sidewalks and those that don't. Most of the former seem to be found in populated areas.

[bob]

what eats the rubber tree