What Tree Does Rubber Come From
Earlier this year greg and i travelled to thailand where we discovered that rubber comes from trees.
What tree does rubber come from. What is rubber and where does it come from. Types of polyisoprene that are used as natural rubbers are classified as elastomers. Originally rubber was produced from the latex of ficus elestica a type of fig tree today most natural rubber also called india rubber is derived from the natural latex extracted from the parĂ¡ rubber tree hevea brasiliensis a plant native to the amazon but now grown commercially in equatorial regions of southeast asia latex is harvested from the trees by slitting the. Natural rubber also called india rubber latex amazonian rubber caucho or caoutchouc as initially produced consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene with minor impurities of other organic compounds plus water thailand and indonesia are two of the leading rubber producers.
It still plays an important role and that is why we need to search for new rubber sources. As its name suggests the rubber tree hevea brasiliensis originally came from brazil from where it was introduced to such countries of the far east as malaysia indonesia burma cambodia china and vietnam. Rubber has had an important role in human history throughout the development of human civilizations. Where does natural rubber come from.
Nowadays 99 of the natural rubber we use is. Over 400 different plants and trees produce latex but the latex used in natural rubber comes from the rubber tree plant hevea brasiliesis. Of all of these trees the best rubber producing tree is h. Natural rubber is made from the milky white substance called latex that is produced by some trees and plants instead of sap.
It takes about six years for a rubber tree to grow to a point where it s economical to harvest the sap which is called latex here s how you tap one. Find out how natural rubber grows and learn how the loca. Rubber is a natural product produced by plants and is present in many of the goods used in our daily lives. Hevea brasiliensis the parĂ¡ 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 a large area of bark. During world war ii supplies of natural rubber from these nations were cut off just when there was a huge. Rubber tree hevea brasiliensis south american tropical tree of the spurge family euphorbiaceae.