Plants use latex to harm and heal

o Study shows how plants benefit from the use of natural latex - o Researchers hope the study will help us understand how materials are used in nature - o The project could show where to look for natural latex suitable for industrial applications Plants use natural latex in different ways, to help poison insects or rapidly heal wounds, a new study has found. Scientists from the Universities of Sheffield, Oxford and Freiburg tested latex samples from two different types of plant. They found that Euphorbia plants use slow-drying latex to keep insects in with their noxious sap whereas Ficus plants, such as the weeping fig, use fast-drying latex to seal wounds more quickly. Latex is a milky fluid found in around 10 per cent of flowering plants, and is the main constituent of natural rubber. The team developed a new way of testing the mechanical properties of latex, and their research is published this week in Journal of the Royal Society Interface. The work was led by Dr Chris Holland, from the University's Department of Materials Science and Engineering. "When injured, the latex of Euphorbia plants takes a long time to harden," said Dr Holland.