Ficus elastica
(rubber plant)

Pictures

Identity

Preferred Scientific Name

• Ficus elastica Roxb.

Preferred Common Name

• rubber plant

International Common Names

• English: India rubber fig; India rubber tree; Indian rubber tree; India-rubber tree; karet-tree; rubber fig tree
• Spanish: caucho; cauchú comun; higuera cauchera
• French: arbre a caoutchouc; figuier élastique
• Chinese: yin du rong

Local Common Names

• Cameroon: bikehi
• Caroline Islands: gak'iynigoma
• Cook Islands: rapa
• Cuba: goma elástica; hule; ule
• Dominican Republic: higuera
• Germany: Gummi- Feigenbaum; Gummibaum
• Ghana: amanyedua
• Haiti: caoutchouc
• India: atha bor; athabor; attah bar; bor; devak-araung; dewak-araung; diengjri; goli; goni; labor; nisatong; phrap ramkhet; phrapramkhet; rabbaru; rabracho-vad; sagubanka; sangria; shimayal; simamarri; simayal; simeyala
• Indonesia: kajai; karet; rambung
• Indonesia/Sumatra: kajoe aro karet; tuin bij de kampong
• Italy: Fico della gomma
• Japan: indo-gomu-no-ki
• Japan/Ryukyu Archipelago: gumugii
• Malaysia: bunoh seteroh; nyatus
• Marshall Islands: wojke-roba
• Micronesia, Federated states of: komunoki; rapah; repah
• Myanmar: bedi; ganoi; kanoi; moih-krat kanoi ganoi; nyaung-kyetpaung
• Nepal: labar
• Netherlands: indische Gomelastiekboom
• Nicaragua: palo de hule
• Palau: komunoki
• Philippines: balete
• Portugal: arvore da borracha; borracheira
• Samoa: tagamimi palagi
• Thailand: lung; yang india; yang lop
• United States Virgin Islands: Indian rubber fig
• Vietnam: c(aa)y (dd)a

EPPO code

• FIUEL (Ficus elastica)

Summary of Invasiveness

F. elastica is a popular ornamental tree grown around the world. It is listed as an “environmental weed, garden thug, naturalised, weed” in the Global Compendium of Weeds (Randall, 2012). The species reproduces by seeds that can germinate in the tree crowns and grow downwards, making it extremely difficult to control (PIER, 2014). However, reproduction requires a specific wasp pollinator, which may have helped to prevent the spread and invasion of this species in places where it has been introduced and become naturalized. The species received a low PIER risk assessment score of -5 (score >6=likely to be a pest) in Hawaii as this wasp pollinator has not been introduced to Hawaii (Starr et al., 2003), but it has been reported as invasive in Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Singapore, southeastern Australia, and offshore Chile (Randall, 2012; PIER, 2014).

Taxonomic Tree

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Urticales
•                         Family: Moraceae
•                             Genus: Ficus
•                                 Species: Ficus elastica

Notes on Taxonomy and Nomenclature

Often called the mulberry family, Moraceae consists of about 40 genera and 1000 species of trees, shrubs, lianas, or rarely herbs, nearly all with milky sap, and mainly of tropical or subtropical origin (Whistler, 2000; University of Hawaii, 2014). The milky sap of various Moraceae species contains ‘heart poisons’ that are used as dart poisons in some cultures; other plant parts such as leaves and fruit juices have also been reported to cause allergic and toxic reactions in humans and livestock (Frohne and Pfa¨nder, 2005).

Ficus is a large genus of about 800-1000 tree and shrub species native to the tropics and subtropics that are often cultivated beyond their native range for their fig fruits or as ornamentals. Members of this genus are difficult to distinguish by their flowers, but can be differentiated by habit, whether they are banyans or not, by leaf shape, and by their fruits (Whistler, 2000).

The common name of Ficus elastica, rubber fig tree, refers to the milky white sap that is tapped from the tree’s bark (Whistler, 2000; Starr et al., 2003). The name Ficus elastica was published by Roxburgh in 1814. The species is often cited as F. elastica Roxb. Ex Hornem, as the name is often considered a nomen nudem; however, Roxburgh added 'LT', a code for 'Large Tree', 'HS', a code for flowering in the 'Hot Season', 'RS', a code for fruiting in the 'Rainy Season' and he states that the fruit is solitary or paired, that the tree abounds in rubber, that its Bengal name is 'kusmeer' and that the tree arrived in the garden in 1810, brought by a Mr. M.R. Smith (Tawan, 2000). This datasheet cites the species as F. elastica Roxb.

Description

Large trees up to 20 m tall; young branches glabrous, with yellowish-brown to gray exfoliating epidermis. Elliptic to oblong leaves (6-) 12-30 cm long and 5-15 cm wide, acuminate at apex, rounded at base, glabrous, smooth, leathery, gray to brown when dry; petioles 2.5-5 cm long, glabrous, yellowish-brown to black, stipules (0.4-) 5-15 cm long, glabrous to seríceas. Two fruits per node, obovoid, 1-2 cm long, glabrous, green with dark spots, ostiole slightly conical, sessile, basal bracts fused and forming a domed base, wavy apically, 1.5-2.5 mm long, glabrous or sometimes puberulent. [Description from Flora of Nicaragua, 2014].

Plant Type

Distribution

F. elastica is native to tropical Asia, India, and Malaysia and has been introduced to the West Indies (Acevedo-Rodriguez and Strong, 2012; PIER, 2014). The species was not included in the Funk et al. (2007) flora of the Guiana Shield or Forzza et al.’s (2014) work on the Brazilian flora.

Distribution Table

The distribution in this summary table is based on all the information available. When several references are cited, they may give conflicting information on the status. Further details may be available for individual references in the Distribution Table Details section which can be selected by going to Generate Report.

History of Introduction and Spread

F. elastica is native to India and southern Asia. One of its common names, ‘India rubber tree’, refers to its former use as an economically important crop plant for rubber. Plantations for this purpose were established in the mid-nineteenth century, mainly in Southeast Asia including Malaysia, Myanmar, Sumatra, and Java, but with the rise in production of the superior-quality rubber Hevea brasiliensis,F. elastica fell into commercial disuse (Strettell, 1876; Coventry, 1906; Tawan, 2000; Whistler, 2000).

Date of introduction to the West Indies is uncertain, but in 1903 Urban reported that the species was being cultivated in many islands of the West Indies including the Bahamas, St. Thomas, St. Croix, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Barbados (Urban, 1898-1928). Specimens of F. elastica were collected in Puerto Rico in 1913 (Smithsonian Herbarium Collections). The species was certainly present by 1924, as it was included in volume 5 of Britton and Wilson’s flora of Puerto Rico which reported it as “grown for shade and ornament in Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands” (Britton and Wilson, 1924). In Europe, the species was apparently introduced by accident to Italy around 1500, but it has not yet become established (DAISIE, 2014). In South America the species appears to be a very recent introduction to the offshore Chilean Robinson Crusoe Island, yet it has already been reported as invasive; a 2006 report mentioned that it had been planted by some young people in San Juan Bautista, and by 2011 it had been reported as invasive (PIER, 2014). Its ability to spread beyond cultivation and to naturalize or become invasive may depend on whether its specialist pollinator wasp has also been introduced to the area (Starr et al., 2003).

Risk of Introduction

F. elastica is listed as an “environmental weed, garden thug, naturalised, weed” in the Global Compendium of Weeds (Randall, 2012). It is a large, spreading tree that creates dense shade restricting growth beneath it, and is tolerant of shade, drought, and a wide range of soil types (Starr et al., 2003; Gilman and Watson, 2014). The species reproduces by seeds that can germinate in the tree crowns and grow downwards, making it extremely difficult to control (PIER, 2014); however, seed production requires a specific wasp pollinator, which may have helped to prevent the spread and invasion of this species in places where it has been introduced and become naturalized. The species received a low PIER risk assessment score of -5 (score >6=likely to be a pest) in Hawaii as this wasp pollinator has not been introduced to Hawaii (Starr et al., 2003), but the species has been reported as invasive in Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Singapore, southeastern Australia, and offshore Chile (Randall, 2012; PIER, 2014). The species was reported in 2001 as problem tree in Florida, with its planting prohibited in Miami-Dade County, Florida (PIER, 2014). Considering its known potential for invasiveness but the need for a species-specific pollinator, risk of introduction for this species is mid-to- high where the pollinator wasp is known to be present, but low in places where it has not yet been introduced. Careful preventive measures should be taken to ensure the wasp species does not enter non-native habitats, especially in tropical and subtropical regions where F. elastica would be able to thrive outside of cultivation.

Habitat

F. elastica thrives in vegetation zones of tropical rainforest, woodland and shrubland, and light tropical forest (Starr et al., 2003) and as a cultivated plant indoors or in greenhouses elsewhere. It was reported growing in the Himalayan foothills and lower forests (Coventry, 1906), as well as in coastal regions of Ecuador and New South Wales, Australia (Randall, 2012; Catalogue of Vascular Plants of Ecuador, 2014). It is also cultivated in gardens and occasionally in parks in Nicaragua (Flora of Nicaragua, 2014), in urban areas as a street tree in the Mediterranean (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2014), and on roadsides in the Dominican Republic (Smithsonian Herbarium Collections). The species has also been found growing in Kawainui Marsh in Hawaii, at the site of a former nursery (Smithsonian Herbarium Collection).

Habitat List

Biology and Ecology

Physiology and Phenology

In its native jungle habitat, F. elastica can grow to heights of 30 m and often begins as an epiphyte, eventually strangling its host before becoming a large banyan type fig tree (Starr et al., 2003; Gilman and Watson, 2014). In places where it is cultivated such as Florida, the species more often grows to heights of up to 14 m (Gilman and Watson, 2014).

Associations

Each member of the Ficus genus has a symbiotic relationship with an agaonid wasp; just as each Ficus species requires a specific wasp in order to pollinate, the wasp will only lay eggs within its associated Ficus species (Starr et al., 2003; PIER, 2014). F. elastica is associated with the wasp Pleistodontes claviger Mayr, 1885 of the Agaondae family, reportedly native to either India or Java but present in both places (Tawan, 2000; Noyes, 2014).

Environmental Requirements

F. elastica thrives in moister, warmer, tropical climates and in vegetation zones of tropical rainforest, woodland and shrubland, and light tropical forest, but apparently can withstand temperatures ranging from 0-10 C in winter and 10-30 C in summer, and annual rainfall up to 200 cm (Starr et al., 2003). The species is not wind-tolerant and tends to break apart in strong winds, but is tolerant of shade and drought, and can grow in almost any type of soil so long as it is well-drained (Gilman and Watson, 2014).

In Ecuador the species is cultivated in coastal regions at altitudes of 0-500 m (Catalogue of Vascular Plants of Ecuador, 2014). In the past, the species has also been reported at slightly higher altitudes along the Himalayan foothills (Coventry, 1906), but all specimens in the Smithsonian Herbarium and Missouri Botanical Garden collections are recorded for under 1000 m. 

Climate

Air Temperature

Rainfall

Soil Tolerances

Soil drainage

• free

Soil reaction

• acid
• alkaline
• neutral

Soil texture

• heavy
• light
• medium

Means of Movement and Dispersal

Although native to Asia, F. elastica has been intentionally introduced by humans for commercial cultivation of its latex for rubber as well as for ornamental purposes, and is now pantropical. The species reproduces by both cuttings and seeds. The figs are eaten by birds and animals that then disperse the seeds (Starr, 2003; Gilman and Watson, 2014). It is also possible that seeds and cuttings are dispersed by water, as the species is known to grow in coastal areas (Randall, 2012; Catalogue of Vascular Plants of Ecuador, 2014).

Pathway Causes

Pathway Vectors

Impact Summary

Environmental Impact

As F. elastica was commercially cultivated for rubber in non-native parts of southeast Asia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it has naturalized and in some cases become invasive. Data has not been reported on the extent of the species’ negative impact on non-native environments, but in its native habitats where it begins life as an epiphyte, it will strangle its host before establishing itself as a large, spreading tree that creates dense shade, restricting growth beneath it (Tawan, 2000; Starr et al., 2003; Gilman and Watson, 2014). 

Risk and Impact Factors

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Tolerant of shade
• Long lived
• Fast growing
• Has propagules that can remain viable for more than one year
• Reproduces asexually

• Host damage

• Competition - shading
• Competition - strangling
• Produces spines, thorns or burrs

• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately

Uses

F. elastica is planted for ornamental purposes in the Philippines (Merrill, 1923). In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it was heavily cultivated for commercial rubber production, but fell into disuse with the rise in production of the higher-quality ‘para’ rubber, Hevea brasiliensis (Strettell, 1876; Coventry, 1906; Tawan, 2000; Whistler, 2000). The species has also been reported as a fodder tree species commonly occurring in Indian farmlands (Singh, 2001; PIER, 2014).

Uses List

Animal feed, fodder, forage

• Fodder/animal feed

Environmental

• Boundary, barrier or support
• Ornamental

General

• Ornamental

Materials

• Rubber/latex

Ornamental

• Potted plant

Similarities to Other Species/Conditions

F. elastica was formerly an economically important rubber crop, and its common name ‘rubber tree’ has led to confusion with the ‘para rubber tree’ that replaced it as the main source of rubber, Hevea brasiliensis. 

Prevention and Control

Mechanical control may only be possible with younger or smaller trees, as the species can grow to heights of 25-30 m and has wide-spreading branches, buttress roots, and aerial roots (Tawan, 2000; Whistler, 2000; Starr et al., 2003; Gilman and Watson, 2014).

Starr et al. (2003) report that chemical control has been used for Ficus species, as they are sensitive to triclopy herbicides as a basal or stump treatment. However, PIER (2014) warns, “do not treat F. elastica by stem injection or cut stump treatment since the copious emission of latex by cut stems and roots will prevent glyphosate entry".

Gaps in Knowledge/Research Needs

Little data was found regarding the extent of impact on non-native environments this species has caused, and research in this area is recommended, especially for places where it is reported to be invasive or a problem species.

References

Acevedo-Rodríguez P; Strong MT, 2012. Catalogue of the Seed Plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany, 98:1192 pp. Washington DC, USA: Smithsonian Institution. http://botany.si.edu/Antilles/WestIndies/catalog.htm

Britton NL; Wilson P, 1924. Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin islands, Volume V, Botany of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. New York Academy of Sciences, New York.

Broome R; Sabir K; Carrington S, 2007. Plants of the Eastern Caribbean. Online database. Barbados: University of the West Indies. http://ecflora.cavehill.uwi.edu/index.html

Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Ecuador, 2014. St. Louis, Missouri, USA: Missouri Botanical Garden. http://tropicos.org/Project/CE

Chong KY; Tan HTW; Corlett RT, 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Singapore: Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore, 273 pp. http://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/nus/pdf/PUBLICATION/LKCNH%20Museum%20Books/LKCNHM%20Books/flora_of_singapore_tc.pdf

Coventry EM, 1906. Ficus elastica: Its natural growth and artificial propagation, with a description of the method of tapping the tree and of the preparation of its rubber for the market. Forest Bulletin No. 4.

DAISIE, 2014. Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe. European Invasive Alien Species Gateway. www.europe-aliens.org/default.do

Flora Mesoamericana, 2014. Flora Mesoamericana. St. Louis, Missouri, USA: Missouri Botanical Garden. http://www.tropicos.org/Project/FM

Flora of Nicaragua, 2014. Flora of Nicaragua, Tropicos website. St. Louis, Missouri and Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: Missouri Botanical Garden and Harvard University Herbaria. http://tropicos.org/NameSearch.aspx?projectid=7

Flora of Pakistan, 2014. Flora of Pakistan/Pakistan Plant Database (PPD). Tropicos website St. Louis, Missouri and Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: Missouri Botanical Garden and Harvard University Herbaria. http://www.tropicos.org/Project/Pakistan

Forzza RC; Leitman PM; Costa AF; Carvalho Jr AA, et al. , 2014. List of species of the Flora of Brazil (Lista de espécies Flora do Brasil). Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Rio de Janeiro Botanic Garden. http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br

Frohne D; Pfander HJ, 2005. Poisonous plants: A handbook for doctors, pharmacists, toxicologists, biologists and veterinarians. 2nd Edition. Portland, OR, USA: Timber Press, 469 pp.

Funk V; Hollowell T; Berry P; Kelloff C; Alexander SN, 2007. Checklist of the plants of the Guiana Shield (Venezuela: Amazonas, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro; Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana). Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, 584 pp.

Gilman EF; Watson DG, 2014. Ficus elastica, Fact Sheet ENH 411. Ficus elastica, Fact Sheet ENH 411. Florida, USA: Environmental Horticulture Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), University of Florida. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/ST/ST25200.pdf

Kress WJ; Defilipps RA; Farr E; Kyi DYY, 2003. A checklist of the trees, shrubs, herbs, and climbers of Myanmar. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, 45:1-590.

Merrill ED, 1923. An Enumeration of Philippine Flowering Plants. Vol. 2. Manila, Philippines: Bureau of printing. http://www.forgottenbooks.org/books/An_Enumeration_of_Philippine_Flowering_Plants_v2_1000888542

Noyes JS, 2014. Universal Chalcidoidea Database. London, UK: Natural History Museum. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/chalcidoids

Pelser PB; Barcelona JF; Nickrent DL, 2014. Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines. www.philippineplants.org

PIER, 2014. Pacific Islands Ecosystems at Risk. Honolulu, USA: HEAR, University of Hawaii. http://www.hear.org/pier/index.html

Quattrocchi U, 2012. CRC world dictionary of medicinal and poisonous plants: common names, scientific names, eponyms, synonyms, and etymology [ed. by Quattrocchi, U.]. London, UK: CRC Press Inc., 3960 pp.

Randall RP, 2012. A Global Compendium of Weeds. Perth, Australia: Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, 1124 pp. http://www.cabi.org/isc/FullTextPDF/2013/20133109119.pdf

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2014. Flora Europaea. Edinburgh, UK: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/FE/fe.html

Singh KA, 2001. Leaf morphology and leaf area of fodder trees of NEH region. Range Management and Agroforestry, 22(1):85-93.

Starr F; Starr K; Loope L, 2003. Ficus elastica: Indian rubber tree. Hawaii, USA: United States Geological Survey. http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/reports/pdf/ficus_elastica.pdf

Strettell GW, 1876. The Ficus elastica in Burma proper: Or, A narrative of my journey in search of it: a descriptive account of its habits of growth and the process followed by the Kakhyens in the preparation of caoutchouc. Rangoon, Burma: Government Press. http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/15545#/summary

Tawan C, 2000. Ficus elastica Roxb. In: Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) No. 18: Plants producing exudates [ed. by Boer, E. \Ella, A. B.]. Leiden, The Netherlands: Backhuys Publisher, 69-73.

University of Hawaii, 2014. Department of Botany Vascular Plant Family Access Page: Moraceae. Honolulu, USA: University of Hawaii. http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/mor.htm

Urban I, 1898-1928. Symbolae Antillanae: Seu fundamenta florae Indiae Occidentalis. Berolini, Germany: Fratres Borntraeger.

USDA-ARS, 2014. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online Database. Beltsville, Maryland, USA: National Germplasm Resources Laboratory. https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomysearch.aspx

Wagner WL; Herbst DR; Tornabene MW; Weitzman A; Lorence DH, 2014. Flora of Micronesia website. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution. http://botany.edu/pacificislandbiodiversity/micronesia/index.htm

Wagner WL; Lorence DH, 2014. Flora of the Marquesas Islands website. Washington DC, USA: Smithsonian Institution. http://botany.si.edu/pacificislandbiodiversity/marquesasflora/index.htm

Whistler WA, 2000. Tropical ornamentals. Portland, Oregon, USA: Timber Press.

Links to Websites

Contributors

25/08/2014 Original text by:

Marianne Jennifer Datiles, Department of Botany-Smithsonian NMNH, Washington DC, USA

Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, Department of Botany-Smithsonian NMNH, Washington DC, USA

Distribution Maps