Photo 3723138, (c) tavita_togia2016, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by tavita_togia2016

Attribution © tavita_togia2016
some rights reserved
Uploaded by tavita_togia2016 tavita_togia2016
Source iNaturalist
Associated observations

Photos / Sounds

What

Panama Rubber Tree (Castilla elastica)

Observer

tavita_togia2016

Date

May 17, 2016

Description

Pulumamoe
Pulumamoe or Panama rubber tree (Castilla elastica) is native to Costa Rica and grows to a height of 10-30 m tall and has milky sap. The Pulumamoe is a member of the Moraceae (Mulberry) family. It has spreading or drooping branches, the young ones being woolly-hairy. The leaves are coarse, densely hairy, short-stemmed, arranged in two rows, the blade oblong, broadest in the upper half, with about 18 pairs of prominent veins. Inconspicuous female flowers in short-stemmed heads at leaf axils develop into fruit about 4 cm in diameter. It has green flowers and fleshy orange fruits.
It is an abundant tree species in secondary forests and open areas such as canopy gaps, clearings and forest edges. Pulumamoe likes moist forests areas at low elevation. Pulumamoe is a threat to American Samoa’s forest due to its heavy recruitment of seedlings in both the forest gaps and highly disturbed forests. Birds and bats eat the fruits and spread the seeds. The seeds are also dispersed from mother trees by water flowing down streams during raining days. It was introduced in Independent Samoa in the early 1900s by the Germans as an income-generating tree (rubber factory).

Reference:
Whistler, W. Arthur. 2004. Rainforest Trees of Samoa. Isle Botanica. Honolulu, HI.

Associated taxa
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