Sapium glandulosum

Sapium glandulosum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Genus: Sapium
Species: S. glandulosum
Binomial name
Sapium glandulosum
(L.) Morong
Synonyms

many[1]

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.[2][3] It is the most common Sapium species.[3] Its common names include gumtree,[4] milktree,[5] leche de olivo, and olivo macho.[6]

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.[3][6]

This tree grows in tropical moist and wet forests.[6]

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.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Synonyms: Sapium glandulosum. The Plant List.
  2. ↑ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  3. 1 2 3 4 Sapium. Malesian Euphorbiaceae Descriptions. National Herbarium Nederland.
  4. ↑ Sapium glandulosum. USDA PLANTS.
  5. ↑ Sapium glandulosum. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).
  6. 1 2 3 Sapium glandulosum. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.


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