Rubber Tree

plants · natural materials · tropical · amazon

Comes from rainforests. The rubber tree originally grew wild in the Amazon basin, but now people grow it all over the tropical world because it's so useful and valuable.

Milky tree juice. When you cut the bark of a rubber tree, a white, creamy liquid called latex drips out like sap. This latex is what becomes the rubber in your tires and bouncy balls.

Most important rubber source. Even though scientists have invented fake rubber, the natural rubber from these trees is still the best and most widely used rubber in the world for making all sorts of things.

Part of a big plant family. The rubber tree belongs to a family of plants called Euphorbiaceae, which includes thousands of other plants, some of which have special juices or seeds too.

Tapping, not chopping. Farmers don't cut down the trees to get rubber. Instead, they carefully slice the bark in a special way that makes the latex flow out without killing the tree, so it can produce rubber for many years.