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
Ficus macrophylla botanist Charles Moore described "Ficus columnaris" in 1870 from material collected from Lord Howe Island, choosing the species name from the Latin "columnaris" for the column-like roots. English botanist E. J. H. Corner reduced this to synonymy with "F. macrophylla" in 1965, before P. S. Green noted it was distinct enough for subspecies status in 1986. Australian botanist Dale J. Dixon reviewed material and felt the differences too minor to warrant subspecific status, and recognised two forms: "Ficus macrophylla" f. "macrophylla", a free-standing tree endemic to mainland Australia; and "Ficus macrophylla" f. "columnaris", a hemiepiphyte lacking a distinct main trunk