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Castilla elastica; photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2020-12-20

Castilla elastica Cerv.

Rubber Tree; Castilla Rubber; Panama rubber tree

Moraceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +13

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Castilla elastica, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY)Castilla elastica, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY)Castilla elastica, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY)Castilla elastica, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY)Castilla elastica, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY)Castilla elastica, photograph (c) M Rutherford, some rights reserved (CC BY) 63 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
13.1°C
Record low 9.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,154mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
24–39DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Castilla elastica, the Panama rubber tree, is a tree native to the tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. It was the principal source of latex among the Mesoamerican peoples in pre-Columbian times. The latex gathered from Castilla elastica was converted into usable rubber by mixing the latex with the juice of the morning glory species Ipomoea alba which, conveniently, is typically found in the wild as a vine climbing Castilla elastica. The rubber produced by this method found several uses, including most notably, the manufacture of balls for the Mesoamerican ballgame ōllamaliztli.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Castilla elastica", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,539 mm of 2,036 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.8 °C against a yearly mean of 24.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

Rain

2,036 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,539 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 338 mm, driest month March at 53 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,252 mm to 3,853 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,154 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,036 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 13.1 °C, the absolute minimum 9.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 18.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 14.7 °C to 22.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.0 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +46 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Castilla elastica through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 18.8 °C; 2,036 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°50°39.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER9.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 24–39RH 62–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 331 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 23–3027 / 24–3129 / 26–3230 / 27–3330 / 26–3429 / 26–3229 / 25–3129 / 25–3128 / 25–3028 / 25–2927 / 24–2926 / 23–29
Night °C19 / 15–2319 / 15–2320 / 17–2322 / 19–2423 / 20–2523 / 20–2522 / 19–2422 / 19–2422 / 19–2422 / 19–2320 / 17–2319 / 15–22
Rain mm80 / 16–29764 / 13–33853 / 18–33178 / 32–347137 / 75–402266 / 84–492275 / 52–482284 / 33–520338 / 45–549239 / 50–454129 / 33–33493 / 22–254
DLI25 / 21–3430 / 24–3735 / 27–4139 / 25–4238 / 24–4234 / 22–3835 / 23–3935 / 24–3831 / 24–3428 / 23–3226 / 23–3224 / 21–32
RH %65 / 57–7064 / 56–7162 / 56–7062 / 57–7064 / 58–7267 / 63–7367 / 63–7367 / 64–7368 / 65–7367 / 64–7366 / 61–7266 / 59–71
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 331 grid cells holding the 433 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1394:1810 (20.275, -89.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 9.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 331 distinct grid cells holding 433 of the 433 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1394:1810 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 20.50_-89.375, lapse-corrected +46 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 75 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador · introduced: Gulf of Guinea Is., Comoros, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Jawa, Philippines, Sumatera, New Caledonia, Samoa, Vanuatu, Marquesas, Society Is., Hawaii, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Venezuela, Peru · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker16.472, -90.725 · in the densest population, 355 records (54% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 653 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 433 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 508 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 5 km away. 116 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 220 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 653 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Castilla elastica, photograph 1did not loadCastilla elastica, photograph 2did not loadCastilla elastica, photograph 3did not loadCastilla elastica, photograph 4did not loadCastilla elastica, photograph 5did not loadCastilla elastica, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) M Rutherford, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Philodendron radiatum Philodendron radiatum Split Leaf Climber Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezSenna papillosa Senna papillosa Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos Domínguez-RodríguezNeurolaena lobata Neurolaena lobata Bushy fleabane Photo: CC BY, Tom FieldEpiphyllum hookeri Epiphyllum hookeri Nightblooming cactus Photo: CC BY, Ricard Busquets ReverteAlibertia edulis Alibertia edulis Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, keesgroenendijkCornutia pyramidata Cornutia pyramidata Azulejo Photo: CC BY, J. L. Gómez-Hechavarría

Names & registers

Also known as Castilla elastica var. costaricana. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Moraceae
Described by
Cerv.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +12
Wild records
653 in range · 508 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 24 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (17 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 3 at a herbarium, 4 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 20.50_-89.375, lapse-corrected +46 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21found by its label; its IPNI identifier 850895-1 is Kew's for Castilla elastica Cerv.
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 99 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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