Castilla elastica Castilla elastica Castilla elastica, the Panama rubber tree, is a tree native to the tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. It was the principal source of latex among the Mesoamerican peoples in pre-Columbian times. The latex gathered from "Castilla elastica" was converted into usable rubber by mixing the latex with the juice of the morning glory species "Ipomoea alba" which, conveniently, is typically found in the wild as a vine climbing "Castilla elastica". The rubber produced by this method found several uses, including most notably, the manufacture of balls for the Mesoamerican ballgame "ōllamaliztli". The Aztec
Ficus microcarpa Ficus microcarpa Ficus microcarpa, also known as Chinese banyan, Malayan banyan, Indian laurel, curtain fig, or , is a tree in the fig family Moraceae. It is native in a range from China through tropical Asia and the Caroline Islands to Australia. It is widely planted as a shade tree and frequently misidentified as "F. retusa" or as "F. nitida" ("F. benjamina"). "Ficus microcarpa" has been described in 1782 by Carl Linnaeus the Younger. The species has a considerable number of synonyms. In 1965, E. J. H. Corner described seven varieties (and two forms of "Ficus microcarpa" var. "microcarpa") which