''Hevea guianensis'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of rubber tree in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

'' Hevea'', belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of a genus in the family. Most spurges, such as '' Euphorbia paralias'', are herbs, but some, ...

. It is native to the rainforests of Ecuador, Venezuela, the Guyanas, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. It generally grows on well-drained soils or on those that are only lightly inundated, on river banks, in gallery forests, savannah forests and wooded slopes.

Description

''H. guianensis'' is a large evergreen tree growing to a height of . Annual growth is in the form of vigorous short shoots on which flowers and foliage develop before the old leaves are shed. The leaves are tri-foliate (with three leaflets), the leaflets being folded back when the leaf emerges but becoming semi-erect as the leaf matures, the only species in the genus where this is the case. The variety ''lutea'' differs from the nominate race in having obovate leaflets instead of elliptical ones. The inflorescence is borne on the tip of the short shoots, there being separate male and female flowers. Each flower has five perianth lobes, the male flowers having five anthers, arranged in a single whorl in a central column, but in ''lutea'' they may be arranged in an irregular whorl or in two whorls. The female flowers have a central pistil with a disk below. The fruit is a three-chambered capsule which splits apart explosively to expel the seeds; these are kite-shaped and measure .

Uses

''H. guianensis'' is tapped for

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...

in the wild but is not cultivated for this purpose. It produces a yellowish latex of inferior quality to '' Hevea brasiliensis''. The seeds are poisonous when raw but are eaten by native people when cooked.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15391334 Trees of the Amazon Trees of Brazil Trees of Colombia Trees of Peru Trees of Venezuela Crotonoideae