rubber plant

noun

1. a plant, Ficus elastica, of the mulberry family, having oblong, shining, leathery leaves, growing native as a tall tree in India, the Malay Archipelago, etc., used as a source of rubber and cultivated in Europe and America as an ornamental house plant.

2. any plant yielding caoutchouc or India rubber.

rubber plant

noun

1. a moraceous plant, Ficus elastica , with glossy leathery leaves: a tall tree in India and Malaya, it is cultivated as a house plant in Europe and America

2. any of several tropical trees, the sap of which yields rubber See also rubber tree

Word History and Origins

Origin of rubber plant¹

First recorded in 1885–90