Hevea, or the rubber tree, grows in Indonesia, South America and Malaysia. The plant received such a strange name due to the presence of milky juice, which protrudes from cracks and cuts in the bark. These secretions are initially very similar to dandelion juice, and after a while they solidify - this is latex. Raw materials are collected by local residents in special containers and are called raw or unprocessed rubber. In many states, hevea is under the protection of the law, so cutting down trees is not allowed anywhere, only in certain places.
Rubber tree has several varieties, the most famous are white and red. Hevea is highly durable, its wood can compete even with European oak, which is considered one of the most durable species. In addition, the plant is not subject to decay, is durable and malleable in processing. It is safe to say that this is a miracle, and not a tree, since a lot of different products are made from it. Furniture, figurines, parquet, kitchen utensils, picture frames, tires, quality rubber,children's toys, gloves - this is not a complete list of things that can be obtained from hevea.
The elastic resin of the rubber tree is collected by local residents in special containers. To do this, cuts are made on the trunk, through which rubber juice flows, then it is processed and a huge amount of necessary, high-quality and completely environmentally friendly things are obtained. It should not be thought that every rubber tree produces latex. Juice can be collected only from plants that have reached adolescence, that is, about 10-12 years. As long as it contains latex, wood borers do not attack the wood, so the wood remains strong, durable and without visible damage.
Hevea grows very slowly, under favorable conditions a seedling can grow by 4 cm in a month. There are no age rings, so only by the height of the trunk you can determine its age. An adult rubber tree reaches a height of about 25 m, a trunk diameter of 0.75 m. The texture of the wood is rather weakly expressed, which is used by manufacturers of picture frames, furniture and figurines, where a clearly defined pattern is not required. However, hevea also has a very beautiful coloration of the wood, for an unsurpassed effect, the trunk is cut lengthwise, then a creamy pinkish tint passes through the middle.
Many think about the question of how to grow a rubber tree in order to earn income from raw materials. It should be noted that hevea will grow only in favorableconditions, it will be very difficult to create them artificially. In nature, it prefers hillsides, rainforests at an altitude of about 400-900 m. The temperature should be from 23 to 35 ° C, and annual precipitation - up to 4 m. In addition, the plant prefers group plantings, it does not grow well alone, because that with neighbors is intertwined with roots, forming communities that skillfully resist all the misfortunes of nature, be it a storm or a cyclone.
