Rubber, Guayule

Abstract

AbstractGuayule (Parthenium argentatum) is a rubber‐producing woody shrub native to the Chihuahuan Desert of northern Mexico and Texas. Guayule produces linear, high molecular weight natural rubber that can have physical properties and applications equivalent to those of Hevea (Hevea brasiliensis) rubber. Guayule rubber can be extracted as a solid bulk polymer or as a latex. Guayule also is one of very few rubber‐producing plants to have ever been used commercially for rubber production. Although guayule rubber was commercially produced in the early part of the last century, more recent efforts to reinstate production have not led to commercial success because the production costs of bulk rubber were too high to permit direct competition with Hevea rubber. Guayule commercialization has been revitalized in recent years by use of the plant to produce low protein hypoallergenic latex, a higher value rubber raw material.