Species
+

Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex A.Juss.) Müll.Arg.

Apam, Kautschuk (DE); Rubber Tree (EN); Caoutchoc (FR), Natural Rubber, Para Rubber Tree

Climate known 50 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Hevea brasiliensis, the Pará rubber tree, sharinga tree, seringueira, or, most commonly, rubber tree or rubber plant, is a flowering plant belonging to the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is originally native to the Amazon basin, but is now pantropical in distribution due to introductions. It is the most economically important member of the genus Hevea, because the milky latex extracted from the tree is the primary source of natural rubber.

Text from Wikipedia, “Hevea brasiliensis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Hevea

Hevea is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, with about ten members. It is also one of many names used commercially for the wood of the most economically important rubber tree, H. brasiliensis. The genus is native to tropical South America but is widely cultivated in other tropical countries and naturalized in several of them. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Hevea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Described by
(Willd. ex A.Juss.) Müll.Arg.
Native to
French Guiana, Venezuela, Bolivia +5
Wild records
601 in range· 549 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Oct, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2177mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jan 288 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–35DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, November to April at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.5 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 2177 mm a year, wettest January at 288 mm, driest August at 56 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 17.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Hevea brasiliensis f. acreana (Ule) Ducke; Hevea brasiliensis f. angustifolia (Ule ex Huber) Ule; Hevea brasiliensis f. latifolia (Ule ex Huber) Ule; Hevea brasiliensis f. randiana (Huber) Ducke; Hevea brasiliensis subsp. granthamii Barth and 16 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, November to April at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.5 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1534 mm of 2177 mm) falls in November to April. The temperature curve is flat, 1.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2177 mm a year, wettest January at 288 mm, driest August at 56 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2177 mm a year at the habitat, 1534 mm of it November to April. Wettest month January at 288 mm, driest August at 56 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1644 mm to 3283 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 17.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 17.1 °C, the absolute minimum 10.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.6 °C in July (across the envelope cells 16.6 °C to 23.3 °C), warmest day 30.7 °C in October (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 17.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 70% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 28 °C in May to 31 °C in Oct; mean night from 21 °C in Jul to 23 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 2177 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 230 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 10.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°38.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)10.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 27–35RH 62–70 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 230 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C29 / 27–3029 / 28–3029 / 28–3029 / 28–3028 / 26–3028 / 26–3129 / 26–3230 / 27–3331 / 28–3231 / 28–3230 / 28–3129 / 27–30
Night °C23 / 21–2423 / 21–2423 / 20–2422 / 20–2422 / 18–2421 / 17–2321 / 17–2322 / 18–2422 / 19–2423 / 20–2523 / 20–2423 / 21–24
Rain mm288 / 94–358280 / 127–352273 / 149–357228 / 121–378160 / 56–38294 / 9–36061 / 6–30056 / 19–278103 / 51–273169 / 99–278212 / 104–289253 / 129–332
DLI31 / 27–3530 / 27–3630 / 27–3528 / 25–3227 / 24–3127 / 23–3230 / 25–3333 / 30–3635 / 32–3935 / 32–3933 / 30–3731 / 29–34
RH %69 / 63–7270 / 63–7270 / 63–7270 / 64–7368 / 62–7367 / 55–7365 / 52–7362 / 51–7263 / 57–7166 / 59–7168 / 61–7169 / 63–72

Each figure is the median across the 230 grid cells holding the 589 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1955:2153 (-7.775, -72.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 17.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 230 distinct grid cells holding the 589 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1955:2153 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -8.00_-72.500, lapse-corrected -4 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 211 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeFrench Guiana, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil North, Brazil South· introduced: Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Togo, Central African Republic, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Bismarck Archipelago, Fiji, Caroline Is., Marianas, Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica, Trinidad-Tobago
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-10.859, -68.668 · in the densest population, 396 records (66% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 601 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 549 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 346 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 12 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 601 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Hevea brasiliensisHevea brasiliensisHevea brasiliensisHevea brasiliensisHevea brasiliensisHevea brasiliensisHevea brasiliensisHevea brasiliensis

Photographs: (c) Ashwin A, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Ong Jyh Seng, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (4); (c) Enrique Salazar, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Diogo Luiz, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Hevea brasiliensis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Sorbitol- vs Glycerol-Plasticized Whey Protein Edible Films: Integrated Oxygen Permeability and Tensile Property Evaluation
Tara H. McHugh, John M. Krochta (1994) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Draft genome sequence of the oilseed species Ricinus communis
Agnes P. Chan, Jonathan Crabtree, Qi Zhao, Hernán Lorenzi (2010) · Nature Biotechnology
The rubber tree genome reveals new insights into rubber production and species adaptation
Chaorong Tang, Meng Yang, Yongjun Fang, Yingfeng Luo (2016) · Nature Plants
Hevein: an antifungal protein from rubber-tree (Hevea brasiliensis) latex
J Parijs, Willem F. Broekaert, Irwin J. Goldstein, Willy J. Peumans (1991) · Planta
Adsorption of copper on rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) leaf powder: Kinetic, equilibrium and thermodynamic studies
Wan Saime Wan Ngah, Megat Ahmad Kamal Megat Hanafiah (2007) · Biochemical Engineering Journal
Nephrotoxicity of Amphotericin B
William T. Butler, JOHN E. BENNETT, DAVID W. ALLING, PAUL T. WERTLAKE (1964) · Annals of Internal Medicine
Expansion of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) in Mainland Southeast Asia: what are the prospects for smallholders?
Jefferson Fox, Jean‐Christophe Castella (2013) · The Journal of Peasant Studies
Draft genome sequence of the rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis
Ahmad Yamin Abdul Rahman, Abhilash O Usharraj, Biswapriya B. Misra, Gincy P. Thottathil (2013) · BMC Genomics
Wound-induced accumulation of mRNA containing a hevein sequence in laticifers of rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis).
I Broekaert, H I Lee, Anil Kush, N H Chua (1990) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 155 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.