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February 18, 2010 : Hevea brasiliensis and Castilla elastica
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Plant Family / Families: Euphorbiaceae | Moraceae
Scientific Name and Author: Hevea brasiliensis Müll. Arg. | Castilla elastica Sessé
Lindsay Bourque, UBC BPotD work-study student, wrote today's entry to kick off the "biodiversity and sports" series. The first image is from the Wikimedia Commons, seeds of Hevea brasiliensis by Luis Fernández García (Creative Commons license), while the second image is by Flickr user goosmurf (latex harvesting from Hevea brasiliensisl | CC license). The illustration of Castilla elastica is from the 1897 work Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (and in the public domain), while the fruit photograph of Castilla elastica var. costaricana is copyright of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and licensed for scientific use.
Lindsay writes:
A series on biodiversity and sports would not be complete without including rubber. Two important sources of rubber are Hevea brasiliensis, the Pará rubber tree, and Castilla elastica, the Panama rubber tree.
Hevea brasiliensis is a member of the spurge family, and the species has helped provide sports with hockey pucks, bicycle tires, table tennis paddles, tennis balls, and golf balls (Daniel adds: and keeping athletes healthy and safe). Originally found only in northern parts of South America, Hevea brasiliensis is now in cultivation throughout most of Asia where it is an important economic crop for commercial markets. In the wild, Hevea brasiliensis can reach a towering 45 metres, but in cultivation, plants are kept shorter to maximize latex production. The latex vessels, found outside the central vascular system, only extend through the first 24 metres of the trunk.
While the use of the latex was greatly diversified and expanded with the discovery of vulcanization ("cured rubber"), there is evidence that naturally-occurring rubber has been in use for over 3000 years. The ancient Olmec civilization of present-day Mexico's tropical lowlands used the latex of a different species (Olmec translates as "rubber people" in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec). Castilla elastica, a member of the mulberry family, mixed with the juice of Ipomoea alba, was used to create rubber as early as 1600 BCE. Using this process, the Olmec also quite possibly produced the first rubber balls and developed the earliest form of the Mesoamerican ballgame. Although the specific rules of this ancient sport remain obscure, based on archeological evidence it would have been similar to racquetball or volleyball, where the aim is to not let the ball hit the ground---players would strike the ball with their hips to keep it in play. Not an easy feat considering the balls weighed up to 4 kilograms! There is evidence that the game served an important ritual aspect for the Olmec; depictions of human sacrifice can be found carved into the ballcourt, marking major games. Balls have been found in El Manatí, an Olmec sacrificial bog. A variation of the game, called ulama, is still played today.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at February 18, 2010 2:19 PM
Comments
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Posted by: Mary Ann, in Toronto at February 18, 2010 4:01 PM
It'd never occured to me that Hevea was from Euphorbiaceae. It makes perfect sense, of course, but not something I'd thought about before. Thanks for that.
Posted by: Andrew in NZ at February 18, 2010 4:43 PM
Biohistory. Very fascinating.
Posted by: Meg Bernstein at February 18, 2010 7:18 PM
I had been expecting sports as in abnormal variations. Silly me! This will be fun. Thanks for all the links, I learn so much from you guys!
Posted by: Connie at February 18, 2010 10:04 PM
A great collections of images! How nice it is to see seeds.
Best,
Julie
Posted by: Julie at February 19, 2010 4:59 AM
question: the latex collection picture shows a large trunk, but the fruit picture shows a vining plant with tendrils holding on to a bamboo cane. Is that because of different species?
Posted by: Susanne at February 19, 2010 5:31 AM
when the pictures started to unfold
an old song came into my mind called high hopes
just what makes that little old ant
think he'll move that rubber tree plant
anyone knows an ant,can't
move a rubber tree plant
but he's got high hopes he's got high hopes
hes got high apple pie in the sky hopes
links are fine the pictures are great bon bon
Posted by: elizabeth a airhart at February 19, 2010 8:36 AM
Suzanne, I think the latter photograph with the fruit of Castilla elastica is actually showing a branch laden with fruit (the vining plant with tendrils just happens to be in the photograph).
Here's a photo of the trunk of Castilla elastica.
Posted by: Daniel Mosquin 
at February 19, 2010 9:40 AM
I recently read an interesting book "The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire", Jackson, Joe (Book - 2008). It's all about the rise of rubber and the efforts on behalf of Britain to end Brasil's domination of the rubber market. It puts into perspective the position of rubber within our world. It's worth reading.
Posted by: Rob Stuart at February 19, 2010 12:57 PM
An important plant to know. It's currently one of the main reasons China's natural forests are being destroyed.
Posted by: Jon at February 19, 2010 6:18 PM
Interesting set of photos. Made me think of "rubber barons"...
Rob, that book sounds like a good read. Will have to look it up. thanks.
Posted by: Cambree at February 19, 2010 9:47 PM
What are the seed(?) objects in the first picture?
Posted by: Janey Pugh at February 20, 2010 1:56 AM
Reading recently about the Olmecs . The ball game was very a important ritual in central American, Ballcourts are found in all important ancient temple areas in the Yuacatan. Religion was central to their life.Hence, this magical substance was taken for ritual purposes. I wonder what other uses they had for rubber.?
Posted by: Eleanor Ryan at February 21, 2010 12:51 PM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Botany Photo of the Day and associated images by UBC Botanical Garden staff are licensed under a Creative Commons License. Images and text by non-UBC contributors are copyright the respective photographers / authors (but often have Creative Commons licenses if contributed via Flickr).
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.
Very nice series of images. The seeds and fruit, I find particularly lovely. I'd really like to feel the weight and texture of those seeds.
It's good to see rubber/latex starting off the sports series; that's certainly the first thing that comes to my mind on this topic, and these are such interesting and widespread plant substances.
I also got a chuckle out of the link labelled "keeping athletes healthy and safe" -- a cute article, especially the comment therein, "people with poor impulse control don’t make it to the Olympic Village" ;o)
I kinda figured as much. Then again, if they've stocked 100,000 . . .
Better safe :) than sorry, I guess.