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| | Ethnobotanical Leaflets |
 | | The plants of the Euphorbiaceae family are mostly monoecious herbs, shrubs, and trees, sometimes succulent and cactus-like, and comprise one of the largest families of plants with about 300 genera and 7,500 species that are further characterized by the frequent occurrence of milky sap. |
 | | The rubber tree had not even been domesticated by the time the colonists arrived, although the natives may have been harvesting it wild in the jungle and forests for centuries. |
 | | The impetus came from technological innovations: the invention of the masticator, which enabled solid natural rubber (NR) to be softened, mixed, and shaped, and of the vulcanization process, which drastically improved the physical properties of natural rubber. |
| www.siu.edu /~ebl/leaflets/rubber2.htm (1225 words) |
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