hardy rubber tree

The "hardy rubber tree" is more accurately known as Eucommia ulmoides. This elmlike tree, native to China, is unique because it produces a milky latex from which rubber can be extracted. While it was once cultivated for its rubber, it is now rare and considered near-threatened due to overharvesting. The bark also has medicinal properties.1

The term "rubber plant" can also refer to Ficus elastica, a large tree native to Southeast Asia that was an early source of rubber but was largely replaced by the unrelated rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis. Ficus elastica is now commonly grown as a durable houseplant.234