790

18: Plants producing exudates

Castilla elastica SessT

Moraceae

Castilla costaricana Liebm., Castilla panamensis O.F.Cook, Ficus gummifera (Miq.) Miq. Note: The erroneous genus name Castilloa sometimes occurs in the literature.

Mexican rubber (En). Philippines: castilloa rubber tree.

Castilla elastica occurs naturally from Mexico through Panama to western Colombia and western Ecuador. Subsp. elastica occurs naturally from Mexico to north-western Costa Rica but has been introduced into many tropical areas; subsp. costaricana (Liebm.) C.C.Berg occurs naturally from Costa Rica to south-western Colombia and has been introduced in a few other countries, but is cultivated in Indonesia; subsp. gummifera (Miq.) C.C.Berg occurs naturally from Ecuador to south-western Colombia. Castilla elastica was introduced in Bogor in 1876.

The rubber, obtainable from the latex, can be used like para rubber. The latex from this tree was probably being processed into rubber as early as 1600 BC in Ancient Mesoamerica. Because quality and yield are less than from para rubber, there are no longer any commercial plantations.

Monoecious or dioecious tree, up to 30 m tall with low buttresses, exuding white latex when wounded; twigs clothed with soft hairs, dimorphic, some falling off ('self pruning'), the persistent ones never producing flowers. Leaves pendulous, distichous on caducous twigs, arranged spirally on persistent twigs; stipules fully amplexicaul, connate, 2—12 cm long, yellow strigose, margins white-tomentellous; petiole 2(—10) cm long; blade ovate to oblong, 15—40(—55) cm x 5—20(—30) cm, base cordate, margin entire or shallowly dentate, apex acuminate, beneath with soft hairs and with about 20 pairs of prominent secondary veins, leaves on persistent twigs smaller than those on caducous twigs. Inflorescences capitate, peduncled, many-flowered, cup-shaped; male heads 1—3 cm in diameter, often 4 together, on peduncle 1.5 mm long; female heads solitary, subsessile, smaller than male head; male flowers without perianth, stamen 1; female flowers with ovoid perianth, 4-lobed, style 2-branched. Infructescence 3—5 cm in diameter, red to orange or pink, with pyramidal, hairy apex; fruit ellipsoidal, about 1 cm long. Seed brownish. Castilla elastica is found in forests up to 850 m altitude, often along streams, in clearings, or at forest margins. Three subspecies have been distinguished on the basis of distribution pattern and indumentum type. Castilla elastica can be easily propagated by seed and by cuttings from the persistent branches. Many years after the plantations in Java had been cleared the plants were still producing shoots from coppice. In trials Castilla elastica grew faster than para rubber. Although there were fairly extensive plantations in Peninsular Malaysia and Central and East Java, the yield and the quality of the rubber proved to be inferior to para rubber. Moreover, in Peninsular Malaysia plantations were severely damaged and even destroyed by a number of diseases and pests and trees did not stand up to tapping very well. One litre latex yields about 200 g rubber. The mean annual rubber yield from trees in Java was 150 g.

[2]Algemeen Landbouwweekblad voor Nederlandsch-Indië, 1935. Rubber-leverende planten in Ned.-Indië [Rubber-producing plants in the Dutch East Indies]. Algemeen Landbouwweekblad voor Nederlandsch-Indië 19: 574–576, 597–598, 605–608.
[7]Berg, C.C., 1972. Olmedieae, Brosimeae (Moraceae). Flora Neotropica. Monograph NO 7. Hafner Publishing Company, New York, United States. 229 pp.
[8]Berkhout, A.H., 1906. De ervaringen der laatste jaren en de vooruitzichten op het gebied van de caoutchouc-cultuur in de Nederlandsche overzeesche gewesten [Experiences of the last few years and prospects of rubber cultivation in the Dutch colonies]. De Bussy, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 24 pp.
[10]Brown, W.H., 1951–1957. Useful plants of the Philippines. Reprint of the 1941–1943 edition. 3 Volumes. Technical Bulletin 10. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources.Bureau of Printing, Manila. Vol. 1(1951) 590 pp., Vol. 2 (1954) 513 pp., Vol. 3 (1957) 507 pp.
[11]Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd Edition. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A–H) pp. 1–1240, Vol. 2 (I–Z) pp. 1241–2444.
[22]Heyl, C.J.W., 1901. Vermenigvuldiging der voornaamste caoutchouc en gutta-percha leverende planten [Propagation of the most important rubber and gutta-percha-yielding plants]. Teysmannia 11: 167–172.
[23]Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlands-Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd Edition, 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch-Indië. 1953 pp. (3rd Edition, 1950. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands / Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 pp.).
[27]Jumelle, H., 1903. Les plantes à caoutchouc et à gutta. Exploitation, culture et commerce dans tous les pays chauds [The rubber and gutta-producing plants. Exploitation, cultivation and trade in all warm countries]. A. Challamel, Paris, France. 543 pp.
[40]van Romburgh, P., 1899. Over caoutchouc-leverende boomen. 1. Castilloa elastica Cerv. [On rubber-yielding trees. 1. Castilloa elastica Cerv.]. Teysmannia 9: 1–16.
[42]van Romburgh, P., 1900. Caoutchouc en getah-pertja in Nederlandsch-Indië [Rubber and gutta-percha in the Dutch East Indies]. Mededeelingen uit 's Lands Plantentuin 39: 1–209.

E. Boer & P.C.M. Jansen

Boer, E. & Jansen, P.C.M., 2000. Castilla elastica SessT. In: Boer, E. and Ella, A.B. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 18: Plants producing exudates. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea