38 



Collecting Chicle in the American Tropics^ 



John S. Karlixg 



The principal source of chicle, the basic ingredient of chewing 

 gum, is the latex of Achras sapota, a species of the family Sapotaceae 

 which occurs in abundance in southern Mexico and Central Amer- 

 ica. The sapodilla or chicle tree is generally regarded as indigenous 

 to southern ^Mexico, Central America, northern South America, and 

 the West Indies, but because of its delicious fruit it has been planted 

 extensively and may now be found under cultivation in limited quan- 

 tities as a fruit tree in most tropical and sub-tropical countries. It is 

 principally in southern Mexico and Central America, however, that 

 it grows in sufficient quantity, size, and height to make tapping for 

 chicle profitable. Here the trees may occasionally attain a height of 

 a hundred feet with straight smooth boles, sometimes as much as 

 eight to twelve feet in circumference ; and in these regions during 

 the past half century has sprung up the extensive and unique indus- 

 try of gathering crude chicle which has no parallel in any other part 

 of the world. 



Although the natives in tropical America had been using small 

 amounts of chicle for various purposes in pre-Columbian times 

 (Melendez, 1920), it was not until the discovery of chicle as a suit- 

 able base for chewing gum that this product became economically 

 important. This discovery more than half a century ago is said to 

 have been the result of attempts to vulcanize the gum of the sapodilla 

 tree in the same manner and as a possible substitute for rubber. The 

 similarity of chicle to spruce and cherry gums, the best chewing 

 gums in use at that time,- and its adaptability to chewing and com- 

 pounding with adulterants, sugars, and flavors were soon recognized, 

 and from these first modest experiments and an initial outlay of fifty- 

 five dollars the extensive present-day chewing gum industry is said 

 to have had its beginning. Hand in hand with the spread of the gum 

 chewing habit grew the demand for raw chicle, and within a few 

 years a new enterprise sprang up in the jungles of southern Mexico 

 and Central America. Rival American contractors began to push into 

 the jungles to obtain large concession of virgin forests and to ofYer 

 unheard-of inducements to the natives for gathering chicle. Raw 



•"■ Address presented before the Torrey Botanical Club, December, 1940. 



