RUBBER PLANTING 19 



wounds. The leaves are smooth, with three spear-shaped 

 leaflets, and are very variable in size; indeed, all the 

 characters of the tree are subject to marked variation. 

 In Brazil the shape of the leaves is considered to be 

 a feature by which good and bad varieties can be 

 distinguished. The variety introduced into the East 

 appears to be one of the best, although showing in its 

 turn considerable variation. In Brazil the leaves fall 

 from the trees about June, at the beginning of the 

 so-called dry season, and are replaced by new leaves 

 shortly afterwards. For a few weeks or days, therefore, 

 the trees winter with bare branches. 



The trees introduced into Ceylon have encountered 

 there a reversed arrangement of seasons. On the 

 Western side of Ceylon, accordingly, leaf-fall takes place 

 in February. 



The flowers appear shortly after the new leaves. 

 They are small and greenish in colour, and possess a 

 pleasant scent comparable with that of the blossom of 

 the lime tree. The male and female flowers are separate, 

 but are grouped in the same panicles. The fruits ripen 

 in about five or six months. Three large seeds, marbled 

 with brown and grey, are contained in a single fruit a 

 hard woody capsule, which bursts open when ripe and 

 scatters the seeds to a considerable distance. 



The structure and physiology of the bark of Hevea 

 will be dealt with in some detail in the following 

 chapters. We may proceed to describe the collection 

 of the rubber in the forests of Brazil. 



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