Sapium glandulosum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sapium glandulosum |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Sapium
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| Species: |
glandulosum
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| Synonyms | |
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many |
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The Gumtree (Sapium glandulosum) is a type of tree. It belongs to the plant family Euphorbiaceae. This tree grows naturally in warm, tropical parts of the Americas. You can find it from Mexico and the Caribbean all the way south to Argentina. People also grow it in other places.
It is the most common kind of Sapium tree. Some of its other names are milktree, leche de olivo, and olivo macho.
Contents
What it Looks Like
This tree can grow very tall, sometimes up to 30 meters (about 100 feet). It often has large buttress roots at its base. These roots help to support the tall tree. It also usually has many trunks.
Bark and Sap
The outer bark of the Gumtree is thin and can peel off. It might look patchy or have scars. The inner bark feels grainy. This tree makes a lot of milky sap, called latex. This sap is very sticky.
Leaves and Spines
The leaves grow in an alternating pattern along the branches. They are shaped like long ovals or eggs. Each leaf can be up to 27 centimeters (about 11 inches) long and 8 centimeters (about 3 inches) wide. The edges of the leaves have small teeth. New leaves have tiny glands at the tips of these teeth. Smaller woody parts of the tree can have short, thick spines.
How it Grows
The Gumtree likes to grow in warm, wet forests. These are usually tropical forests where there is a lot of rain.
Reproduction
The Gumtree is a monoecious plant. This means that both male and female flowers grow on the same tree.
Flowers
The flowers grow in a spike-like shape. Most of the flowers are male, grouped together. A few female flowers are found at the bottom of these spikes. The male flowers are tiny and round, less than a millimeter long, and purple. The female flowers have three parts called styles, which are about 2 millimeters long.
Fruit and Seeds
After the flowers, the tree produces a greenish-brown, round fruit. This fruit is a capsule, about a centimeter long. It splits into three parts when it's ripe. Each part holds one seed. The seed is covered in a thin, red layer of pulp.
Uses
The milky sap (latex) from this tree is of good quality. It can be used to make rubber. However, it is hard to collect a lot of it. Because of this, people don't usually use it to make rubber for businesses.
Images for kids
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A close-up of the leaves and flowers of the Gumtree.
See also
In Spanish: Lechero para niños
