﻿366 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1943 
  

  

  ww 
  do 
  not 
  extend 
  beyond 
  the 
  Andes, 
  but 
  only 
  to 
  the 
  eastern 
  foothills 
  

   of 
  the 
  mountain 
  barrier. 
  The 
  natural 
  distribution 
  of 
  Castilla 
  in- 
  

   cludes 
  most 
  of 
  tropical 
  America 
  from 
  Brazil 
  and 
  Peru 
  to 
  Mexico, 
  

   but 
  not 
  the 
  West 
  Indies. 
  

  

  Writers 
  who 
  traced 
  the 
  origin 
  of 
  the 
  name 
  Hevea 
  to 
  the 
  district 
  of 
  

   Esmeraldas 
  naturally 
  inferred 
  that 
  the 
  Para 
  rubber 
  tree 
  was 
  first 
  

   discovered 
  on 
  the 
  Pacific 
  coast 
  of 
  Ecuador, 
  though 
  some 
  have 
  assumed 
  

   that 
  Esmeraldas 
  was 
  a 
  locality 
  in 
  Brazil. 
  As 
  late 
  as 
  1876 
  James 
  

   Collins, 
  the 
  most 
  competent 
  author 
  on 
  rubber 
  of 
  that 
  period, 
  contrib- 
  

   uting 
  to 
  a 
  book 
  on 
  "British 
  Manufacturing 
  Industries," 
  represents 
  

   La 
  Condamine 
  as 
  finding 
  Para 
  rubber 
  trees, 
  "siphonias 
  or 
  seringas 
  in 
  

   great 
  abundance," 
  along 
  the 
  Pacific 
  coast, 
  "adjacent 
  to 
  the 
  sea." 
  

  

  The 
  usual 
  supposition 
  that 
  rubber 
  history 
  began 
  in 
  Brazil 
  arises 
  

   largely 
  from 
  the 
  fact 
  that 
  rubber 
  was 
  coming 
  from 
  Brazil 
  in 
  the 
  days 
  

   of 
  Goodyear, 
  but 
  the 
  preceding 
  centuries 
  of 
  rubber 
  history 
  should 
  not 
  

   be 
  disregarded 
  — 
  three 
  centuries 
  in 
  Mexico 
  and 
  at 
  least 
  one 
  century 
  in 
  

   Brazil. 
  The 
  first 
  rubber 
  industry 
  in 
  Brazil 
  was 
  the 
  gathering 
  of 
  

   Castilla 
  rubber 
  on 
  the 
  eastern 
  slopes 
  of 
  the 
  Andes, 
  as 
  witnessed 
  by 
  

   La 
  Condamine 
  when 
  he 
  descended 
  the 
  Amazon 
  in 
  1743. 
  This 
  indus- 
  

   try 
  entered 
  Brazil 
  from 
  the 
  Spanish 
  settlements 
  on 
  the 
  Pacific 
  coast, 
  

   and 
  spread 
  eastward 
  through 
  the 
  Amazon 
  valley, 
  until 
  it 
  was 
  replaced 
  

   or 
  at 
  least 
  overshadowed 
  at 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  the 
  next 
  century 
  by 
  the 
  ex- 
  

   ploitation 
  of 
  the 
  Para 
  rubber 
  tree, 
  beginning 
  abound 
  Para 
  and 
  spread- 
  

   ing 
  westward, 
  as 
  witnessed 
  by 
  Spruce. 
  The 
  word 
  caucho 
  came 
  from 
  

   the 
  west 
  with 
  the 
  Castilla 
  industry, 
  the 
  word 
  borracha 
  from 
  the 
  east, 
  

   with 
  the 
  Para 
  rubber. 
  

  

  The 
  primary 
  error 
  was 
  made 
  by 
  Aublet 
  in 
  1775 
  in 
  associating 
  the 
  

   vernacular 
  name 
  heve 
  from 
  Esmeraldas 
  with 
  a 
  native 
  rubber 
  tree 
  of 
  

   French 
  Guiana. 
  But 
  Aublet's 
  Hevea 
  had 
  been 
  discarded 
  as 
  a 
  hom- 
  

   onym 
  in 
  Lamarck's 
  encylopedia, 
  and 
  replaced 
  by 
  Siphonia. 
  To 
  

   overlook 
  this 
  fact 
  was 
  a 
  technical 
  error, 
  violating 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  basic 
  

   rules 
  of 
  nomenclature, 
  that 
  names 
  abandoned 
  as 
  homonyms 
  are 
  not 
  to 
  

   be 
  resumed. 
  The 
  name 
  Hevea 
  doubtless 
  will 
  continue 
  in 
  popular 
  use 
  

   for 
  many 
  years 
  and 
  will 
  only 
  gradually 
  be 
  replaced 
  by 
  Siphonia. 
  An 
  

   alternative 
  is 
  to 
  treat 
  Hevea 
  as 
  a 
  popular 
  name, 
  like 
  petunia, 
  aster, 
  or 
  

   chrysanthemum. 
  The 
  name 
  Para 
  rubber 
  tree 
  is 
  familiar 
  and 
  not 
  

   equivocal. 
  

  

  It 
  seems 
  remarkable 
  that 
  Spruce 
  should 
  have 
  botanized 
  in 
  so 
  many 
  

   places 
  along 
  the 
  Amazon 
  without 
  encountering 
  a 
  single 
  Castilla 
  tree, 
  

   from 
  which 
  it 
  may 
  be 
  inferred 
  that 
  a 
  nearly 
  complete 
  extermination 
  

   had 
  taken 
  place. 
  Many 
  other 
  botanists, 
  before 
  and 
  after 
  Spruce, 
  ob- 
  

   tained 
  no 
  specimens. 
  The 
  Castilla 
  of 
  the 
  lower 
  Amazon 
  had 
  no 
  botani- 
  

   cal 
  status 
  until 
  it 
  was 
  described 
  by 
  Warburg 
  in 
  1905 
  as 
  a 
  new 
  species, 
  

   Castilla 
  ulei, 
  named 
  for 
  Ule, 
  the 
  collector. 
  This 
  tree 
  may 
  be 
  less 
  strik- 
  

  

  