PARA RUBBER. 5 



Eastern Rubber Areas. 



The following table, compiled from the Colombo Brokers' Asso- 

 ciation Monthly List, April. 1906, shows the approximate acreage 

 of land planted or available for rubber which is owned by well- 

 known public companies in Ceylon, the Straits, and India. A part 

 of the available land in these companies will probably be planted 

 with rubber at some future date. 



Eastern Rubber: Areas ownod by public Companies. 



Total .. 70,846 .. 167,166 



Botanical Characters of the Para Rubber Tree. 



M. H. Jumelle * devotes considerable attention to the supposed 

 varieties of Hevea brasiliensis, and like many other botanists con- 

 cludes that the differences in colour, size, and shape of the leaves 

 described by Ule and others are not constant and may be disregard- 

 ed. The leaves are trifid, long, and lanceolate. 



The flowers are monoecious, and are grouped in panicles of small 

 cymes ; each inflorescence has two kinds of flowers, male and female. 

 The calyx is usually five-lobed ; the stamens of the male flowers are 

 united in the centre to form a column ; the female flowers usually 

 possess five staminodes, a small 3-celled ovary, and 3 sessile or 

 shortly-styled stigmas; the fruit is a three-lobed capsule, in which 

 the three oval oleagineous seeds are contained. The seeds are shiny 

 and speckled brown on the surface. 



There are about a dozen species of Hevea recognized by Miiller, 

 Hemsley, and Huber. Hevea brasiliensis is considered to be 

 characterized by (1) having its anthers in a single whorl; (2) 

 acuminate male flower bud, and (3) sessile stigmas. 



The illustrations on Plate 2, Series A, show the characters of the 

 leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds of Hevea brasiliensis. 



The Laticiferous System. 



The latex is contained in definite ducts which occur throughout 

 the stem, root, leaves, flowers, and fruits. The laticiferous ducts in 

 Hevea brasiliensis consist of a series of sacs, the walls of which break 

 down and thus give rise to the formation of a number of tubes, dis- 



* Lee Plantes a Caoutchouc et a Gutta, by Honri Juniollc, Paris, 1903. 



