ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 
BULLTHTIN 
OF 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION, - 
No. 142.] OCTOBER. [1898. 
DCXXV.—PARA RUBBER. 
(Hevea brasiliensis, Muell. Arg.) 
What is known as the Para rubber to tape qo is obtain 
from the "fu palo drained by the Amazon and its tributariós 
estimated t embrace a territory ee penis WES the size of 
urope. 
The plants yielding Para rubber consist of several species of 
Hevea belonging to the natural order Euphorbiace:s, familiarly 
known as Spurges. 
We owe the first authentic account of the plants of this genus 
to M. de la Condamine, the leader of the French e — sent 
out in 1773 to measure an are of the meridian ve e 
tree was known in the ean region as * Heve” or “ deve but 
according to Spruce this name is also applied to "Castilloa elastica 
and to Siphocampylus Caoutchouc. In the Amazon valley it was 
called “Cahuchu” probably the origin of the word ie parma 
The Portuguese in Brazil call t the rubber * Seringa," acsi 
native collectors *Seringuieros." The tree is * Pao de Ser ^ 
These names suggest that the syringe was one of the cáriiedi uses 
to which india-rubber was locally applied. 
Plants belonging to the genus Hevea are widely V ipe duo ent in 
tropical South Sena They are apparently found wild i 
other part of the world. In the present state of our kuowiateid it 
is ao e to wen accurately all the species that yield Para 
rubber 
n a review of the species of Hevea by Mr. W. B. Hemsley, 
in Hooker’s Icones Plantarum, figures are given of Hevea 
spruceana, Muell. Arg. (t. 2570), found in North Brazil, and of 
H. benthamiana, Muell. Arg. (t. 9511), collected by Spruce on the 
Uaupés river in North Brazil and reported to be under cultivation 
in Venezuela. The floral structure of eight species are elucidated 
(it. 3515 and 2574), and the seeds of five species are carefully 
637—1375—9/98 Wt 90 D&S 29 A 
