Do rubber trees shed their leaves

[Samh]

In Ranong province for a few days and almost every rubber plantation I have seen the trees look as though they are dead or dieing. Whole plantations with trees with no leaves or very few. Just wondered if they shed leaves in the dry season?

[Ben Zioner]

3 minutes ago, Samh said:

In Ranong province for a few days and almost every rubber plantation I have seen the trees look as though they are dead or dieing. Whole plantations with trees with no leaves or very few. Just wondered if they shed leaves in the dry season?

Obviously your first year in Thailand. Within a week or two those rubber trees will be dressed in nice soft green. 

[drtreelove]

Yes the South American origin rubber tree, Havea brasiliensis, is tropical deciduous, naturally sheding leaves for a short period of time in winter. (I believe it's more of a drought-dormancy than a cold-dormancy, like teak.)

 

- Not to be confused with another species called rubber tree, or rubber plant, Ficus elastica, the popular large leaf house plant, which is evergreen. 

[Samh]

I noticed when moving from Ranong to Phang gna that whilst the rubber trees in Ranong had no or very few leaves in Phang gna they were all green. Then moving on to Surat Thani they were devoid of leaves in Surat thani.