User:Dominion lw/Ceara rubber

Manihot carthaginensis (Vernacular names — English: Ceara rubber. Java: Oebi kajoe, oebi karet. Borneo: Kalimantan: Singkang tahunan; Sarawak: Bandong tujuh (tahun) (Selakau); ubi jipon, ubi tahun (Malay).

(Shrub to) tree up to 13 m high, dbh up to 20 cm. Bark pinkish grey to dark brown, scaly, c. 0.6 cm thick, Araucaria-like; inner bark brown, thin; exudate thick, white latex; wood white. Stipules entire. Leaves: petiole green with reddish tinge; blade peltate, inserted 5—15(—20) mm from the margin; dull to shiny dark green above, green to pale bluish green below, latex present; lobes 0.9—3 times as long as wide; central unlobes part relatively long, lobes 5.8—12.5 times as long; nerves 7—17 pairs, venation very distinct, usually differently coloured when dry, veins scalariform. Inflorescences lax, usually single or few together. Staminate flowers: calyx devided to more or less halfway, green to greenish white to dark purple inside at base, glabrous; filaments white, anthers yellow. Pistillate flowers: calyx green tinged dull reddish to inside pinkish, glabrous; ovary smooth, yellow. Fruits globose, green with yellow sutures, warty, without wings. Seeds 12 mm or longer; caruncle yellow.

Distribution — Native to N Brazil. Sparsely cultivated throughout SE Asia and

Habitat & Ecology — Cultivated, often left behind and therefore found in scrubs, secondary forest and waste places along roads and rivers, near paddies, old cultivated fields; locally common. Often associated with Pterocarpus when growing along water. Soil: sticky red soil, may be water logged. Alt.: sea level up to 1200 m. Flowering whole year through, fruiting probably also, though no data available for Aug.-Dec.

Uses — Cultivated all over Malesia for its latex which can be turned into rubber. However, Hevea brasiliensis outcompeted this species and presently it is hardly cultivated. The leaves can be eaten as vegetable, but must be chopped and cooked due to the HCN content of the leaves. The plant is often used on Java as a scion on Manihot esculenta roots to improve their production.