Image: Wikimedia Commons (See link for license)
Hardy rubber tree family
Eucommiaceae Engl.
ใใใฅใฆ็ง
A monotypic family from China, consisting of a single species, Eucommia ulmoides. It grows wild in central to southwestern China and is widely cultivated in Japan as a source of traditional Chinese medicine. Famous for its distinctive property of producing latex threads when leaves are torn.
Key Characteristics
- โTearing a leaf reveals stretchy white rubber threads (gutta-percha)
- โDeciduous tree with simple, alternate, serrate leaves
- โFlowers are apetalous, dioecious, and wind-pollinated
- โFruit is a winged samara, wind-dispersed
Morphological Traits
A family may include species with different trait values โ multiple values indicate the range within the family.
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Pinnate
Leaf margin
Serrate / Dentate
Growth form
Tree
Evergreen/Deciduous
Deciduous
Leaf dissection
Undivided
Stipules
Absent
Latex
Present
Flower symmetry
Actinomorphic
Petal fusion
Free
Ovary position
Superior
Plant sex
Dioecious
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Eudicots > Core Eudicots > Garryales > Eucommiaceae
Divergence Era
Late Cretaceous (ca. 90 million years ago)
Representative Genera
Related Evolution Events
- ใปEvolution of the unique trait of gutta-percha (trans-polyisoprene) accumulation in leaves
- ใปSurvival as a monotypic 'living fossil' lineage since the Cretaceous
Plants in Hardy rubber tree family on this site
AI-generated, needs verification