Natural rubber at least showed promise as rubber sources, include the rubber fig ("Ficus elastica"), Panama rubber tree ("Castilla elastica"), various spurges ("Euphorbia" spp.), lettuce ("Lactuca" species), the related "Scorzonera tau-saghyz", various "Taraxacum" species, including common dandelion ("Taraxacum officinale") and Russian dandelion ("Taraxacum kok-saghyz"), and perhaps most importantly for its hypoallergenic properties, guayule ("Parthenium argentatum"). The term gum rubber is sometimes applied to the tree-obtained version of natural rubber in order to distinguish it from the synthetic version. The first use of rubber was by the indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica. The earliest archeological evidence of the use of natural latex from the
Ficus altissima is obtained. It has been planted in southern Florida, where it didn't used to seed because there weren't any native insects available to pollinate the flowers. However, non-native wasps ("Eupristina" sp.), that have become established in the area, seems capable of pollinating it and the tree is now proliferating and becoming invasive. Ficus altissima Ficus altissima, commonly known as the council tree, is a species of flowering plant, a fig tree in the family Moraceae. It is a large, stately evergreen tree and is native to southeastern Asia. "Ficus altissima" is a large, evergreen forest tree with a buttressed trunk