Indian Rubber Tree
Indian Rubber Tree
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Rubber tree have large sheath like stipules covering the tip of new leaves sometimes called leaf bud.
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Aerial roots dense forming props only in moist conditions. Leaf FIRM leathery, broad up to 30 cm long glossy, dark green on top, short pointy tip. LEAF BUDS BRIGHT PINK up to 15 cm long. Figs in pairs, small stalkless, yellow green when ripe (not often seen in Delhi)
Indian Rubber tree. Ficus Elastica : Ficus elastica is one of the many plants yielding caoutchouc (a French name for rubber). All the figs when bled yields a milky latex. Rubber is secreted in tiny vessels found in the cortex tissue between the outer bark and the wood. and sometimes also in the leaves. Caoutchouc is sap like but should not be confused with sap. It is also gum like in its properties of sealing incisions and preventing infections. Mexicans Indian uses plant juice to make their clock water proof. Later on this rubber material was useful for rubbing out pencil marks. 'Indian rubber' began to be applied more strictly to the produce of the Indian tree.
The trouble with untreated Indian rubber is that it tends to become gummy and sticky when it s hot, and hot and inflexible in the cold, therefore it was combined with other substance to behave better. Rubber was used for waterproofing. Sandwiching a thin sheet of rubber between cloths to make first effective raincoat - the 'mackintosh'. It was discovered that dipping natural rubber in a bath of molten Sulphur prevents it from softening or hardening in extremes temperature. Later on rubber was made an extremally volatile substance it could be now harden and cut like an ivory, molded and engraved, colored, stretched or pressed. Rubber waterproof overshoes were made.. The first solid rubber tyres were tied on a carriage wheel in 1846. and became universal on bicycles.
For first 20 years or so right to tap rubber in government forest were auctioned to private contractors. Many were tapped so mercilessly that they were killed outright, others were simply pole -axed. In its native forest. Ficus elastica can grow as tall as a 16 -storied building. Such a giant have to be climbed twice- once to make the incision and then once more to collect the latex. To save themselves the trouble, the tappers simply cut them down and collected all the latex they could from the supine carcass of the tree.
A large evergreen strangler fig with thin aerial roots reaching 50 m or more in Assam but about 14 m in Delhi. Its large glossy leaves and bright red leaf buds are distinctive. Native to moist forests in NE India. It is seen most often in Delhi as a potted plant. Season : Leaves : evergreen but renewed from February onwards, right through the rainy season. The bright -red leaf buds are particularly prominent at this time.
Leaf Buds : The easiest way to tell a rubber tree from another fig tree is by its leaf bud.- thin papery scale, which sheaths the young leaf and than falls off. All other Delhi fig trees have small lead buds in pair- the rubber tree has only one and it is bright pink and so long that you can see it from a great distance.
Figs : Start to ripen at June. fig like fruits in pairs along the branches. The trunk and stems exude a milky sap, or latex.
Areal Shoot : thin and vestigial, though in its natural moist habitat, it sometimes behaves more like a strangler fig with thicker air roots.
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