Vol. XIX. 
COLOMBO, DECEMBER 1st, 1899. 
m. 6. 
"EUCOMIA ULMOIDES" OLIVER: 
A NEW GUTTA-PERCHA PLANT. 
By M. M. J. Dybowski and G. Fron. 
(Specially trranslated, from the Revue des 
Cultures Coloniales" for the Tropiccd 
Agricxdturist. ) 
DTTA-PERCHA is, as is known, 
produced priucipally from trees 
belonging to the Sapotacere and 
growing in sub-tropical regions. 
It is therefore interesting to 
know that a plant, belonging to 
quite a different botanical group 
and growing in regions with a 
temperate climate, can also yield gutta-percha. We 
refer to a species studied by M M. Oliver and Weiss and 
described in the bulletin of the Linnaean Society of 
London in 1892, under the name of the Eucomia 
Ulmoides Oliver. Having only incomplete specimens 
at his disposal that botanist was unable to make 
an exact study of the plant. However, he ranks 
the Eucomia among the Enphorbiaceas, near the 
crotonoids, and notes, in the different organs of the 
plants, the presence of lactiferous vessels, the contents 
of which become particularly visible when, having 
broken a portion of the stalk or the leaf, one carefully 
separates the two parts. M. Weiss undertook the 
anatomical study of the stalk and leaves, more parti- 
cularly the development of the laotifers. He aflirmed 
their presence in great abundance in the "parenchyma 
cortical "* of the stalk and their resemblance to the 
vessels holding the latex of the Eupliorhiacece. Having 
measured the proportion of elements soluble in chloro- 
form in the cortical region, he obtained a yield of 
3 per cent. 
Having noticed the analogy that exists between the 
leaves of palaqnium and those of the Eucomia, when 
on carefully breaking the leaves, one exposes the con- 
tents of the lactifers, we have been led to try to apply 
■ * [That is, the soft spongy cellular web which 
fills the spaces between the different fibres and tissues 
iu the leaves, young atalks and fruit. — Ed. T,A.'] 
to the different organs of the plant, the procedure 
recommended by M. Jungfleisch for extracting gutta- 
percha from the leaves of palaqnium. We experimented 
first on some fresh leaves of a single plant of the Euco- , 
mia in the Jardin Colonial. The leaves are 8 to 9 centi- . 
metres long and 4 to 5 wide. They are oval, pointed at 
the end, finely dentate, have short stalks, and in length 
resemble those of our common elm. Operating upon 20 
grammes of dried leaves, we obtained 0 gr. 
45 of products soluble in " toluene "*' which corres- 
ponds to a return of 2 gr. 21 per cent. This 
return is poor, if one considers that the fresh leaves 
contain 70 per cent, of water. The bark seems to con- 
tain a notable proportion of matter produced by the 
lactifers. But the plant which we possess being still 
very young, we have not been able to take any branches 
away for examination. A second series of observations 
was made upon the fruits. The fruit is a samare, the 
length of it being from 3 to 34 centimetres, and the 
width about 1 centimetre. 200 fruits weigh about 13 to 
14 grammes. The extract of matter soluble in toluene 
has given us the following results:— 1st attempt, 15 
grammes soluble in toluene 4 gr. 09; 2na 15 gr. gave 4 
gr. 12. That isa proportionof 8gr., 20 to 30 gr. of matter. 
This corresponds to a yield equal to 27-34 percent. We 
operated on fruits not dried. The fruit contains a 
small proportion of water, equal to 7'4 per cent. The 
product obtained is of a brown colour with metallic 
reflections on the surface. Plunged in hot water, it 
becomes soft again, stretches out in thin flakes like 
goldbeater's skin, and under pressure will take the 
impress of metal. In cooling it loses its suppleness 
and becomes quite hard. 
We have submitted the samples to M. Leaufce an 
authority on the subject,and he authorizes us to say that 
he considers them of good quality.. ...Experiments are 
being made in the Jardin Colonial as to the methods of 
propagating the plant, which is at present only known 
in the North of China. Seeds are uncertain and often 
slow of growth but cuttings seem to give the best 
results. Cuttings will strike root in any season but 
spring seems to be the most favourable for buddinrr 
The plants has lived in the open air in Paris throu<^h 
the winter. Further experiments on the plant are 
being made which will determine if it would bo worth 
while to extract gutta from the branches or the bark.' 
*['' Toluene " is a colourless liquid obtained bv 
the dry distillation of Tolu's balm, a balm produced 
by a tree or the mt/rospenne genus.— Ed, T.A.J 
