Sapium glandulosum

Sapium glandulosum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Euphorbiaceae
Genus:	Sapium
Species:	S. glandulosum
Binomial name
Sapium glandulosum (L.) Morong
Synonyms
many[1]

Sapium glandulosum is a species of tree in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is native to the Neotropics from Mexico and the Caribbean south to Argentina, and it has been cultivated elsewhere.^[2][3] It is the most common Sapium species.^[3] Its common names include gumtree,^[4] milktree,^[5] leche de olivo, and olivo macho.^[6]

This is a species of tree up to 30 meters tall, usually with some buttress roots and multiple trunks. Smaller woody parts can have short, thick spines. It has a thin, patchy, peeling, scarred outer bark and a granular inner bark. It produces large amounts of milky latex. The alternately arranged leaves have toothed oblong or oval leaves up to 27 centimeters long by 8 wide. New leaves have gland-tipped teeth. The species is monoecious. The inflorescence is a spikelike arrangement of clusters of male flowers with a few female flowers at the base. The tiny rounded purple male flower is barely over a millimeter long. The female flower has 3 styles about 2 millimeters long. The fruit is a greenish-brown, rounded capsule up to a centimeter long which splits into 3 segments, each holding a seed. The seed is covered in a thin layer of red pulp.^[3][6]

This tree grows in tropical moist and wet forests.^[6]

The copious latex is of high quality and can be used to make rubber. It is difficult to harvest, so it is not commercially useful.^[3]

References