Ficus elastica
species of plant
Ficus elastica, the rubber fig, rubber bush, rubber tree, rubber plant, or Indian rubber bush, Indian rubber tree, or rambung is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae, native to eastern parts of South and Southeast Asia. Its common names reflect its historical use as a source of rubber within its native range, but it is not used in the modern commercial-scale production of natural rubber.
Description
Ficus elastica is a large tree in the banyan group of figs, growing to 30–40 m (100–130 ft) – rarely up to 60 m or 195 ft – tall, with a stout trunk up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in diameter. The trunk develops aerial and buttressing roots to anchor it in the soil and help support heavy branches.
It has broad shiny oval leaves 10–35 cm (4–14 in) long and 5–15 cm (2–6 in) broad; leaf size is largest on young plants (occasionally up to 45 cm or 17+1⁄2 in long), much smaller on old trees (typically 10 cm or 4 in long). The leaves develop inside a sheath at the apical meristem, which grows larger as the new leaf develops. When it is mature, it unfurls and the sheath drops off the plant. Inside the new leaf, another immature leaf is waiting to develop. The canopy of the tree is dense.
Pollination and fruiting
As with other members of the genus Ficus, the flowers require a particular species of fig wasp to pollinate it in a co-evolved relationship.
“Ficus elastica” enters the record as species of plant. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ficus, elastica and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Ficus elastica” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Ficus, elastica and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q160576. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ficus elastica” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.