PLANTATION RUBBER INDUSTRY OF THE EAST. 505 



XVI. — Ceara Rubber. 



When Cross was returning to England in 1876 with plants 

 of Hevea brasiliensis, his steamer called at the port of Ceara, 

 and he took advantage of the few days' stay to travel inland 

 to Maracanahu, 30 miles from Ceara, where he collected 

 60 plants and 700 seeds of the species which furnished the 

 Ceara rubber of commerce. Of these, 42 plants and the 

 seeds were deposited safely at Kew on November 23, 1870, 

 and from these a stock of 55 plants was secured, with which 

 to begin propagation. 41 of the plants smrvived, and 14 

 others were raised from the seeds. 



The plant was identified at Kew as Manihot Glaziovii, by 

 comparison with authentic specimens from Rio, where Dr. 

 Glaziou, after whom it was named, had it under cultivation. 

 As it happened, it was aheady in cultivation in the Botanic 

 Gardens, Regent's Park, London, and in Java and Mauritius, 

 under the erroneous name of Hevea guyanensis. A description 

 of this species, with figures drawn from the Ceylon plant, was 

 pubhshed by Trimen in the " Journal of Botany," November, 

 1880. All Cross's specimens were obtained in one locahty, 

 and there is no reason to doubt that the plant introduced into 

 the East by him is the true Manihot Glaziovii. 



Seeds were sent to Ceylon by the India Office in 1876, 

 from which at least one plant was raised.^ On July 11, 

 1877, 4 plants of this species were sent to Singapore, and 

 on September 15 50 were sent to Calcutta and 50 to Ceylon, 

 while at the end of the year Kew had 448 plants on hand. In 

 1878 these were distributed to Madras, Calcutta, Fiji, Java, 

 Sydney, Queensland, and Zanzibar, as well as to Dominica, 

 Jamaica, and Trinidad. They grow vigorously practically 

 everywhere, except at Singapore and on the West Coast of 

 Africa. 



The Ceylon plants were put out at Peradeniya and Henarat- 

 goda in October or November, 1877 ; and at the end of 1878 

 Thwaites was able to report that a considerable number of 

 ripe seeds had been produced, enabhng him to send supplies 

 to Burma, Calcutta, and Madras. One plant made an 



1 Kew Report, 1877. 

 6(4)14 (65) 



