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Art Worley.
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2002 - 2010
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2 January 2010
I DEVELOPED THIS WEBSITE TO SHARE MY KNOWLEDGE OF DESERT PLANTS

(THIS IS OVER A FOURTY YEAR COLLECTION.)

THERE ARE SEVERAL PAGES OF PICTURES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF DESERT PLANTS
Guayule (Parthenium Argentatum Gray):
A Rubber-plant of the Chihuahuan Desert
Picture Coming
Kingdom: Plantae          Division: Magnoliophyta     Class: Magnoliopsida          Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae        Genus: Parthenium              Species: P. argentatum                                            Binomial name Parthenium argentatum L.is a shrub in the
genus Parthenium of the family Asteraceae, native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The plant can be used as an alternate source of latex that is also hypoallergenic, unlike the normal Hevea rubber.

This plant saw a brief and intense amount of agricultural research during World War II when Japan cut off America's Malaysian latex resources. The war ended before large-scale farming of the guayule plant began, and the project was scrapped, as it was cheaper to import tree-derived latex than to crush the shrubs for a smaller amount of latex.

Recently, the guayule plant has seen a small but growing resurgence in research and agriculture due to its hypoallergenic properties. While Hevea-derived rubber contains proteins that can cause severe allergic reactions in a few people, guayule does not. The only guayule products currently on the market are surgical gloves and catheters, but work is currently underway to produce guayule condoms as well.


Guayule (Parthenium argentatum), a small shrub native to Mexico and the southwestern United States. The latex sap contains polyterpenes very similar to those found in the primary rubber-producing tree of the Amazon basin (Hevea brasiliensis). Guayule belongs to the sunflower family (Asteraceae), while Hevea belongs to the euphorbia family (Euphorbiaceae). Both guayule and Hevea latexes are composed of up to 6,000 isoprene subunits. When they are cross-linked with disulfide bonds during the vulcanization process, the rubber product becomes very elastic and weather resistant. Although synthetic butadiene polymers are commonly used in tires, natural rubber is also incorporated into the tires to provide more resilience. Because of the great demand for natural rubber to this day, guayule is considered by some authorities to be a good alternative source of the valuable latex.


Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guayule"

Kingdom: Plantae          Division: Magnoliophyta     Class: Magnoliopsida          Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae        Genus: Parthenium              Species: P. argentatum                                            Binomial name Parthenium argentatum L.