Ficus elastica rubber making. Just as with "Hevea brasiliensis", the latex of "Ficus elastica" is an irritant to the eyes and skin and is toxic if taken internally. Ficus elastica Ficus elastica, the rubber fig, rubber bush, rubber tree, rubber plant, or Indian rubber bush, Indian rubber tree, is a species of plant in the fig genus, native to eastern parts of South Asia and southeast Asia. It has become naturalized in Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and the US State of Florida. It is a large tree in the banyan group of figs, growing to (rarely up to ) tall, with
Tree a stucco-like inner surface. Tree shaping has been practised for at least several hundred years, the oldest known examples being the living root bridges built and maintained by the Khasi people of Meghalaya, India using the roots of the rubber tree ("Ficus elastica"). Cork is produced from the thick bark of the cork oak ("Quercus suber"). It is harvested from the living trees about once every ten years in an environmentally sustainable industry. More than half the world's cork comes from Portugal and is largely used to make stoppers for wine bottles. Other uses include floor tiles, bulletin boards, balls,