CHAPTER III. 



THE PARA RUBBER TREE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



THE Para rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis] is indigenous to the 

 forests of the Amazon valley and neighbouring districts, where 

 it is said to grow to a height of about 60 feet, with a trunk 

 of some 6 feet in circumference. The leaves of the tree are 

 trifid, the leaflets elliptical lanceolate. The flowers are uni- 

 sexual, small, green, and sweetly scented, produced in panicles, 

 the female flowers being larger than the male flowers and fre- 

 quently terminal. The fruit consists of a capsule, divided into 

 three divisions, one seed in each division. The fruits burst 

 spontaneously when ripe, and the seeds are often dispersed as 

 far as 50 or 60 feet from the tree. The seeds are about an 

 inch long, flat on one side and round on the other, with a shiny 

 brown testa mottled with darker blotches. The kernel of the 

 seed is very oleaginous, and could be remuneratively employed 

 for oil manufacture, the oil which it produces being very similar 

 to linseed oil. (See Chapter XV.) 



In order to judge of the climatic requirements for the suc- 

 cessful cultivation of this tree, it will be advisable to review the 

 conditions obtaining in its native habitat, and in some of the 

 countries where it has been introduced and successfully cultivated. 



The province of Para, from which the product of this tree 

 derives its name, is situated south latitude i. It is reputed to 

 enjoy a remarkably uniform climate with a mean temperature of 

 81 Fahr., a very moist atmosphere, and an annual rainfall varying 

 between 60 and 90 inches. 



In Ceylon the Para tree has been successfully cultivated 

 since its first introduction more than a quarter of a century ago. 

 I have seen it growing vigorously in Ceylon at all elevations up 

 to 3,000 feet, and where the rainfall varied from 70 to 150 inches 

 per annum. Mr Stanley Arden, Ex-Superintendent, Experi- 

 mental Plantations, Federated Malay States, reports: "Hevea 



