The rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, is the main natural source of latex used in traditional rubber production.
Native to the Amazon Basin, this tree produces milky latex in specialized vessels beneath its bark. Tappers make shallow cuts in the bark and collect the flowing latex, which can then be coagulated and processed into natural rubber. Careful tapping allows a tree to continue producing latex without being felled.
Amazon rubber became globally important during the rubber boom of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Seeds were taken from Brazil to plantations in Southeast Asia, where rubber production eventually expanded dramatically. The rubber tree is not the only plant that produces latex, and the Amazon also contains trees such as balata species that yield related materials. However, Hevea brasiliensis became the dominant commercial rubber source because of its yield and the quality of its latex.