rubber plant

rubber plant
1. a plant, Ficus elastica, of the mulberry family, having oblong, shining, leathery leaves, growing native as a tall tree in India, the Malay Archipelago, etc., used as a source of rubber and cultivated in Europe and America as an ornamental house plant.
2. any plant yielding caoutchouc or India rubber.
[1885-90]

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Tropical tree (Ficus elastica) of the mulberry family.

The rubber plant is large in its native Southeast Asia and other warm areas; elsewhere it is commonly grown indoors as a potted plant. The plant has large, thick, oblong leaves and pairs of figlike fruits along its branches. The milky sap, or latex, was once an important source of an inferior natural rubber. Young plants available in the florist's trade are durable and grow well under less-than-ideal indoor conditions. Some cultivated varieties have broader, darker green leaves; others are variegated. See also rubber tree.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

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  • rubber plant — n. 1. any plant yielding a milky sap (latex) from which crude rubber is formed 2. an Asian tree (Ficus elastica) of the mulberry family, with large, glossy, leathery leaves: often used as an ornamental house plant …   English World dictionary

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