Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex A.Juss.) Müll.Arg.

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution

Nativa en Colombia; Alt. 100 - 400 m.; Amazonia, Pacífico.

Morphology General Habit

Árbol

Conservation

No Evaluada

Kew Species Profiles

General Description

Hevea brasiliensis, better known as the rubber tree, is the primary source of natural rubber.

Hevea brasiliensis is native to Brazil (parts of the Amazon Basin and Matto Grosso) and the Guianas, but most of the world's rubber comes from plantations in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Although rubber is still tapped from wild trees in the Amazon basin, production in South American plantations is hampered by a fungal disease known as South American leaf blight.

The genus Hevea is a member of the family Euphorbiaceae. Only three species of the genus yield usable rubber, Hevea brasiliensis, Hevea guianensis and Hevea benthamiana. Other species have too high a ratio of resin to rubber in their latex. Hevea brasiliensis is the only species planted commercially and is the primary source of natural rubber.

Species Profile

Geography and distribution

Wild and semi-wild Hevea brasiliensis is found in the northern part of South America, from Brazil to Venezuela, and Colombia to Peru and Bolivia. Rubber is now grown in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, China, India and Papua New Guinea in Asia, as well as in Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Liberia and Gabon in Africa.

Description

Hevea brasiliensis is a deciduous tree, typically 30-40 m tall, though usually 15-25 m tall in cultivation, with a leafy crown. The trunk is cylindrical, but frequently swollen towards the base, and the bark is pale to dark brown with a smooth surface and the inner bark pale brown with abundant white or cream coloured latex. The leaves are in spirals and with three leaflets. The flowers are small with no petals, bright or cream-yellow in colour and extremely pungent.They are either male or female but both are found in the same inflorescence. The fruit is an exploding 3-lobed capsule.

In the wild, trees may grow to over 40 m and live for 100 years, but in plantations they rarely exceed 25 m because growth is reduced by tapping for rubber. Plantation trees are usually replanted after 25-35 years when yields fall to an uneconomic level.

Uses

The milky latex of Hevea brasiliensis , produced by a specialised secretory system in the phloem, is the raw material for natural rubber. The latex is a renewable resource that can be sustainably tapped without harming the tree. Rubber is water-resistant, does not conduct electricity, is durable and most importantly, is highly elastic. These useful properties are due to the large and complex molecular structure of rubber.

Rubber has been used for centuries, but its versatility was greatly improved by a process developed in the nineteenth century, vulcanisation, in which the rubber is treated with sulphur and heat. Natural rubber is used in thousands of ways, from bouncing balls, boots, balloons and latex gloves, to engineering and industrial applications. Natural rubber is more suitable than synthetic rubber for the tyres of aircraft and space shuttles.

Felled plantation trees are used for timber - rubberwood - which has important uses in the furniture industry. The seeds contain oil that can be used in making paints and soaps.

Cultivation

Rubber grows best at daytime temperatures of 26°- 28° with a well distributed annual rainfall of 2,000 - 3,000 mm, and up to an altitude of c. 500 m.It will perform well on most soils as long as there is adequate drainage. These conditions are found within 10° N&S of the Equator, although it is cultivated successfully much further north in Mexico, Guatemala and China, and south to near Sao Paulo, Brazil.

This is a tropical tree and requires hot temperatures, high humidity and well-drained, fertile soils. Fruits burst open when they are ripe and the seeds are scattered up to 33 m from the tree. Seed viability drops rapidly as soon as fruits are collected. Best results are obtained with fresh seed grown in partial shade.

This species is difficult to propagate from cuttings; commercial plantations use bud-grafting to propagate plants.

This species at Kew

Two specimens of Hevea brasiliensis can be seen growing in the Palm House at Kew.

Distribution

Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela

Ecology

Rubber is a crop of the humid lowland tropics between 6ºN and 6ºS.

Conservation

Least Concern

Hazards

Proteins present in natural rubber latex may cause allergic reactions.

Distribution

Biogeografic region: Amazonia, Pacific. Elevation range: 100–400 m a.s.l. Native to Colombia. Colombian departments: Amazonas, Antioquia, Boyacá, Caquetá, Guainía, Nariño, Vaupés.

Habit

Tree.

Conservation

IUCN Red List Assessment (2021): LC.

Ecology

Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, shrubland, native grassland, wetlands (inland), artificial - terrestrial.

Vernacular

Caucho, Caucho de pará, Cuacho amazónico, Hule, Lechoso, Siringa

The Useful Plants of Boyacá project

Conservation

Not Evaluated.

Ecology

Alt. 100 - 400 m.

Distribution

Native from Colombia.

Morphology General Habit

Tree.

Euphorbiaceae, A. Radcliffe-Smith. Flora Zambesiaca 9:4. 1996

Morphology General Habit

Tree up to 20 m tall.

Morphology General Bark

Bark pale grey.

Morphology Branches

Branches ± erect.

Morphology Twigs

Twigs glabrous.

Morphology Leaves Stipules

Stipules 1 mm long, lanceolate.

Morphology Leaves Petiole

Petioles 6–20(30) cm long, glabrous; petiolules 1–1.5 cm long; petiole gland reniform; leaflets 7–20(25) × 3–8(10) cm, the median leaflet larger than the others, obovate to elliptic, acuminate at the apex, attenuate or cuneate at the base, chartaceous, glabrous above and beneath, somewhat glaucous beneath; midrib impressed above, prominent beneath; lateral nerves in 15–25 pairs, looped just within the margin.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescences up to 20 cm long, subterminal below the apical tuft of leaves; axis sparingly pubescent; bracts 0.5 mm long, deltate, fugacious.

sex Male

Male flowers: buds ovoid, acuminate; calyx lobes 2 × 0.5 mm, narrowly lanceolate, somewhat contorted, acuminate, subacute, tomentellous; tube 1 mm long; disk ± annular; staminal column 1.5 mm high, anthers 10, in 2 whorls of 5; pistillode narrowly conical, puberulous.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers

Female flowers: buds as in the male; calyx lobes larger than in the male, otherwise similar; tube 2 mm long; disk scarcely visible; ovary 2 × 2 mm, subglobose, minutely papillose; stigmas 0.3 mm long, ± sessile, grooved. Male flowers: buds ovoid, acuminate; calyx lobes 2 × 0.5 mm, narrowly lanceolate, somewhat contorted, acuminate, subacute, tomentellous; tube 1 mm long; disk ± annular; staminal column 1.5 mm high, anthers 10, in 2 whorls of 5; pistillode narrowly conical, puberulous.

sex Female

Female flowers: buds as in the male; calyx lobes larger than in the male, otherwise similar; tube 2 mm long; disk scarcely visible; ovary 2 × 2 mm, subglobose, minutely papillose; stigmas 0.3 mm long, ± sessile, grooved.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruits c. 4 × 4.5 cm, shallowly trigonous, glabrescent.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds 2.3 × 1.5 cm, ovoid-cylindric, pale grey, mottled and streaked with darker grey.

Bernal, R., G. Galeano, A. Rodríguez, H. Sarmiento y M. Gutiérrez. 2017. Nombres Comunes de las Plantas de Colombia. http://www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co/nombrescomunes/

Vernacular

caucho, caucho amazónico, caucho de Pará, hule, lechoso, siringa

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation

Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident

Use Animal Food

Used as animal food.

Use Environmental

Environmental uses.

Use Fuel

Used for fuels.

Use Gene Sources

Used as gene sources.

Use Food

Used for food.

Use Materials

Used as material.

Use Medicines

Medical uses.

Use Materials

Materials (State of the World's Plants 2016).

Use Materials Gums Resins

Stems - Resins are extracted from the stems for waterproofing cloth (Linares et al. 2008).

Use Materials Unspecified Materials Chemicals

Materials (State of the World's Plants 2016).

Use Medicines Unspecified Medicinal Disorders

Medicinal (State of the World's Plants 2016).