Hevea
| Hevea | |
|---|---|
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| Hevea brasiliensis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Euphorbiaceae |
| Subfamily: | Crotonoideae |
| Tribe: | Micrandreae |
| Subtribe: | Heveinae |
| Genus: |
Hevea Aubl. |
| Synonyms | |
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Hevea is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is also one of many names used commercially for the wood of the most economically important rubber tree, H. brasiliensis. There are about ten members of the genus Hevea which is native to tropical South America but widely cultivated in other tropical countries and naturalized in several of them. The genus was first described in 1775.
Hevea was first described as a genus in 1775 by the French botanist and explorer Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet.H. brasiliensis and H. guianensis are large trees, often reaching more than 30 m (100 ft) in height. Most of the other members of the genus are small to medium trees, and H. camporum is a shrub of around 2 m (7 ft). Trees in this genus are either deciduous or evergreen. Certain species, namely H. benthamiana, H. brasiliensis and H. microphylla, bear "winter shoots", stubby side shoots with short internodes, scale leaves on the stem and larger leaves near the tip; on these, the leaves are shed leaving the tree bare before new shoots develop. The remaining species bear more vigorous side shoots which develop before the old foliage is shed and thus the tree remains green. The leaves consist of three, usually elliptical, leaflets which are held horizontally or slightly drooping in most species. The inflorescences have separate male and female flowers, with the females being at the end of the panicles. The fruits are capsules, usually with three seeds, which in all except two species (H. spruceana and H. microphylla) split explosively when ripe to eject the large seeds.
The genus occurs naturally in tropical South America, mostly in the Amazon basin. To the north of the basin the land rises to the watershed of the Guiana Shield on the border between Brazil and Venezuela, and the southern foothills of these mountains forms the northerly limit of the genus. It is also present in the upper reaches of the Orinoco River. The genus extends westwards as far as the foothills of the Andes and southwards to the foothills of the Mato Grosso. Its easterly limit is the Atlantic Ocean. The most widespread species is H. guianensis which occurs over the whole range of the genus.
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Wikipedia