Scientific name: Ficus elastica Roxb. ex Hornem.

Family: Moraceae

Common name: Indian Rubber Fig, Rubber Tree

This is a large and majestic tree, which can reach up to 30 m in height or even more in its place of origin, which is Asia, from the Himalayas and southern China to Sumatra and Java in Indonesia. In our area it will reach up to about 15 m.

The rubber tree has a massive and irregular trunk, about 2 m in diameter, with smooth grayish bark. The branches are large and heavy and grow almost horizontally. They are supported by powerful aerial roots that develop and anchor themselves to the ground, at the same time strangling the host, since this ficus grows on another tree as an epiphyte. The leaves are born wrapped in a green or reddish sheath that will be detached when it grows; they are leathery, elliptical, entire margin, acute tip, and with the base cuneate, that is to say, that it is narrowing towards the petiole. They are large, almost 30 cm long, with the beam of a darker green than the underside, and have no tomentum on either side. The small flowers are grouped inside receptacles called sycones, when they fructify they will be the figs; first they will be greenish and already at maturity purplish, about 1 cm.

The name of the genus comes from the Latin Fig, which means fig, and was the classic name for the fig tree. Its abundant sap was used to obtain rubber or elastic gum, hence the name of the species; it was later replaced by another more productive species, Hevea brasilensis. It is a species widely used as a houseplant. In La Concepción there are two in the historic garden, one next to the eastern pavilion, and another next to the Ficus macrophylla, which supports a foot-shaped root on its trunk. Also next to the parking lot is the cultivar ‘Decora’, with wider, glossy leaves and a very prominent cream-colored midrib.