Sapium glandulosum
Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox
Sapium glandulosum is a species of tree in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is native to the Neotropics from Mexico and the Caribbean south to Argentina, and it has been cultivated elsewhere.[1][2] It is the most common Sapium species.[2] Its common names include gumtree,[3] milktree,[4] leche de olivo, and olivo macho.[5]
This is a species of tree up to 30 meters tall, usually with some buttress roots and multiple trunks. Smaller woody parts can have short, thick spines. It has a thin, patchy, peeling, scarred outer bark and a granular inner bark. It produces large amounts of milky latex. The alternately arranged leaves have toothed oblong or oval leaves up to 27 centimeters long by 8 wide. New leaves have gland-tipped teeth. The species is monoecious. The inflorescence is a spikelike arrangement of clusters of male flowers with a few female flowers at the base. The tiny rounded purple male flower is barely over a millimeter long. The female flower has 3 styles about 2 millimeters long. The fruit is a greenish-brown, rounded capsule up to a centimeter long which splits into 3 segments, each holding a seed. The seed is covered in a thin layer of red pulp.[2][5]
This tree grows in tropical moist and wet forests.[5]
The copious latex is of high quality and can be used to make rubber. It is difficult to harvest, so it is not commercially useful.[2]
References
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- ↑ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
- ↑ a b c d Sapium. Malesian Euphorbiaceae Descriptions. National Herbarium Nederland.
- ↑ Sapium glandulosum. USDA PLANTS.
- ↑ Template:GRIN
- ↑ a b c Sapium glandulosum. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
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