The Rubber Tree Plant

Rubber tree hevea brasiliensis south american tropical tree of the spurge family euphorbiaceae.

The rubber tree plant.

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 it has soft wood. A rubber tree plant is also known as a ficus elastica these large trees can grow up to 50 feet 15 m tall. Rubber tree plant care sun. But indoors a rubber tree typically tops out at 6 to 10 feet tall.

With its glossy leathery leaves and upright form it s a striking addition to almost any room in your house. And a large area of bark. In its native jungle habitat in india and malaysia the plant can grow up to 100 feet tall. If the plant gets less light while leaves are growing the leaves will actually be larger.

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. If you re new to plant parenting a rubber tree is the plant for you. Ficus elastica the rubber fig rubber bush rubber tree rubber plant or indian rubber bush indian rubber tree is a species of plant in the fig genus native to eastern parts of south asia and southeast asia it has become naturalized in sri lanka the west indies and the us state of florida.