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

Example Sentences

He moved to a back corner, beneath what looked like a kind of rubber plant, and pointed out a birdcage, which I hadn’t seen before.

From Literature

A federal judge has approved a settlement under which a synthetic rubber plant will pay $3.3 million in fines and $650,000 for improved air monitoring in several southwest Louisiana locations, officials said Tuesday.

From Seattle Times

Akron lost its mojo when the rubber plants closed, but is still home to a lucrative polymers industry, as well as Devo, the All-American Soap Box Derby, the Black Keys and the Goodyear blimp.

From Los Angeles Times

This fake rubber plant is 25 inches tall.

From Washington Post

Consider all the Black workers who flocked from the South in search of well-paid jobs in the car factories, steel smelters, glass and rubber plants of the Northeast and the Midwest.

From New York Times