''Castilla elastica'', the Panama rubber tree, is a tree native to the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

areas of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, and northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

. It was the principal source of

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...

among the

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Wit ...

n peoples in pre-Columbian times. The latex gathered from ''Castilla elastica'' was converted into usable

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

by mixing the latex with the juice of the morning glory species '' Ipomoea alba'' which, conveniently, is typically found in the wild as a

vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themsel ...

climbing ''Castilla elastica''. The rubber produced by this method found several uses, including most notably, the manufacture of balls for the

Mesoamerican ballgame The Mesoamerican ballgame ( nah, ōllamalīztli, , myn, pitz) was a sport with ritual associations played since at least 1650 BC by the pre-Columbian people of Ancient Mesoamerica. The sport had different versions in different places during ...

'' ōllamaliztli''. The

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...

word for rubber was ''ulli / olli'', from which their word for the ballgame derived), and also their name for the ancient people they associated with the origin of the ballgame, the

Olmecs The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that ...

(''olmeca'': "rubber people"). The Nahuatl word for the tree of ''Castilla elastica'' is ''olicuáhuitl''; in Spanish it is known as palo de hule.

Subspecies

*''Castilla elastica'' ssp. ''costaricana'' (Liebm.) C.C.Berg *''Castilla elastica'' ssp. ''elastica''

Vernacular names

Caucho, castilloa rubber.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1768699 Moraceae Plants described in 1794 Rubber Natural history of Mesoamerica Crops originating from Mexico Trees of Chiapas Trees of Colombia Trees of Costa Rica Trees of Ecuador Trees of El Salvador Trees of Guatemala Trees of Honduras Trees of Michoacán Trees of Nayarit Trees of Nicaragua Trees of Oaxaca Trees of Panama Trees of Tabasco Trees of Veracruz Trees of the Yucatán Peninsula

Subspecies

Vernacular names

See also

References

External links