Rubber Tree: Getting to Know This Plant in New Zealand
If I hadn't chosen teaching as a profession back then, I think I would have gone into studying plants. I hope that someday I can have a crystal-clear glass greenhouse standing in my home, filled with all kinds of plants I love, pottering with flowers, planting trees, tilling the soil...
Today I'd like to introduce the rubber tree. In my earliest memories, the rubber tree was always grown in flower pots. When I went to Xiamen, I discovered it could grow into a tree; when I went to Spain, I was astonished to find it could grow into a big tree; and only in New Zealand did I learn that it can actually become a towering giant tree.
Rubber tree (Ficus elastica Roxb. ex Hornem.),
Also known as: rubber plant, Brazilian rubber tree.
It is an evergreen tree of the genus Ficus in the mulberry family, reaching up to 30 m tall.
The leaves are thick and broad, deep green in color, with bright red terminal buds.
The rubber tree has a distinct trunk with few branches and aerial roots.
The leaves are simple and alternate, oblong, thickly leathery, glossy green, with numerous parallel lateral veins; young leaves are red, and the petioles are stout.
Once the rubber tree has grown, its root system is quite developed; even asphalt pavement will be pushed up by its massive roots, making the road surface uneven and full of ridges and gullies. If planted around your own house, the destructive power is truly astonishing.
Although the rubber tree is so huge, climbing it is not difficult. New Zealanders love climbing trees. During PE class, children would climb up in twos and threes, sitting on the horizontal branches and swinging their little legs. The branches are very long, extending beyond the school grounds; in fact, the children were sitting in midair outside the school, giggling and chatting while enjoying the view inside the campus. Some adults, wanting a souvenir photo of having been there, would nimbly scramble up the fork like a monkey in no time, snap a few photos, and slide back down the trunk, then say to us, who were staring with eyes wide open: "Now, it's your turn." They must have climbed plenty of trees during their school days to have honed such a skill.
Under the shade of the tree, gather a few friends, sit or lie down, feel the breeze, and enjoy a leisurely, carefree time, finding joy in it all.
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