C. elastica is an androdioecious tree that can grow up to 30 m tall with a diameter at breast height of up to 60 cm. In a cosexual plant, staminate and pistillate flowers occur in different inflorescences. Also, the staminate inflorescences in male and in cosexual plants differ (Sakai, 2001). The plant produces abundant milky sap when slashed and yields latex, which used to be used in the rubber industry. C. elastica has spreading or drooping branches, the young ones woolly-hairy. The leaves are coarse, densely hairy on both sides, short-stemmed, arranged in two rows, the blade oblong, broadest in the upper half, 20-45 cm by 7-15 cm, base heart-shaped and tip pointed, with approximately 18 pairs of prominent veins. Inconspicuous female flowers in short-stemmed heads at leaf axils develop into fruit about 4 cm in diameter, consisting of a cluster of many red individuals about 2 cm long, with more or less sweet, edible pulp (PIER, 2013).
Individuals of C. elastica can easily be observed along forest edges, which is its preferred habitat.
Related invasive species
- Castilla elastica
Related Farm Practice
- Canning
- Slash
- Development
C. elastica is a deciduous latex-producing tree native to southern Mexico, Central America and parts of South America (Sakai, 2001). Owing to its importance as a source of latex and the invention of vulcanisation in 1839, C. elastica was introduced outside its native range to provide material for the growing rubber industry (Wright, 1912). The species is regarded as invasive in Samoa, American Samoa, French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Queensland, Christmas Islands, Singapore, Cuba, Vanuatu, Mayotte and Tanzania, where it poses significant threats to native forest ecosystems (Richard, 2007;Dawson et al., 2009;PIER, 2013). It has prolific seed production and high germination, produces fruits which are attractive to many forest dwelling frugivores such as primates, squirrels and birds that are capable of dispersing seeds over long distances and is listed as a weed threatening forest ecosystems.