Brazilian Hevea

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Video: Brazilian Hevea

Video: Brazilian Hevea
Video: LACTAE HEVEA® MOVIE (EN) 2024, March
Brazilian Hevea
Brazilian Hevea
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Brazilian Hevea (lat. Hevea brasiliensis) - a tropical evergreen tree, through the latex vessels of which milky sap slowly flows, which is the main source of natural rubber. If the Almighty had not planted the Brazilian Hevea on Earth, we would not have driven today in comfortable cars, rustling tires on the asphalt or leaving behind a hurricane of dust on the country road leading to the dacha. True, today scientists have invented a method for the artificial production of rubber, but Brazilian Hevea continues to be the main supplier of natural rubber.

History

One of the names of the Brazilian Hevea is “

Rubber tree Steam". The word "Para" pays tribute to the second largest Brazilian northern state in the country called Para. Translated from the Indian language, it means "river". This is very symbolic, because the rubber tree Para, through the vessels of which milky latex flows like a river, originally grew only in tropical forests along the banks of rivers such as the Amazon and its tributaries, including the Para River.

After the thinking man came up with the vulcanization process, a "rubber fever" broke out among the business people, enriching the entrepreneurial and allowing Para to revive its dormant economy. Such a privilege of the Brazilian state did not suit a crowd of businessmen from other places, and therefore Hevea seeds were smuggled out of the country and the plant quickly spread in the British colonies of Southeast and South Asia, as well as in the tropics of West Africa.

The word "rubber" is also borrowed from the language of the American Indians. They called the milky juice dripping from the wounded trunk "kao-chu", which meant "tears of a tree." From these "tears" the boys made a soft ball and strengthened their legs by playing with it.

Description

In the wild, the evergreen Brazilian Hevea raises its crown to the heavens to a height of 30 meters. The diameter of a straight trunk with a light bark can reach half a meter.

Leathery trifoliate leaves are not devoid of decorativeness, which is given to the oval leaf by well-defined veins. The top of the leaf is pointed.

Loose clusters of inflorescences are formed by white-yellow small unisexual flowers. Male and female flowers are on the same tree, that is, Brazilian Hevea is a monoecious plant.

The seeds of Hevea are reliably protected by a dense shell and a fruit - a box that hides three seeds in its three compartments.

The industrial life of Hevea Brazilian

Although the role of milky sap in the plant is not fully understood by botanists, besides the fact that it plays a protective role against the enemies of the plant, it clearly has other functions. Therefore, trees that serve a person who takes milky sap for their needs age faster than wild ones. At the age of 25-30, they become economically unprofitable for a person, since they give less and less milky juice, and therefore go under the frame. Previously, they were simply burned as firewood, and later they began to make furniture out of wood. True, the wood of the Brazilian Hevea is very dense, difficult to glue.

The process of collecting latex has its own name - "tapping". A spiral cut is made in the bark of the tree, which cuts through the latex vessels of the tree. If a real professional who knows the structure of a tree is busy with the business, then such a tapping will give latex for five years.

To prevent latex from hardening in the hot tropical sun, collect it at night, or add ammonia to the collection cup, which allows the latex to remain in a liquid state for longer. In Malaysia today, special plastic bags are used instead of cups.

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