How a Xinjiang weed could reduce China’s reliance on Southeast Asian rubber

Chinese scientists have turned a dandelion-like weed into natural rubber, a step that could help cut China’s heavy reliance on imported rubber.Growing on the salty, alkaline shores at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains in the Xinjiang-uygur" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="177157" data-entity-type="location">Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the plant looks much like an ordinary weed, with small yellow flowers and fluffy seeds.But when its root is broken, it oozes a milky fluid that is natural rubber.The weed is known as the rubber dandelion, or Taraxacum kok-saghyz.China is the world’s largest rubber consumer. Photo: ShutterstockLast month, researchers in Xinjiang harvested one tonne of dried roots from a 20-mu (about 1.3-hectare) test field and extracted 40kg (88lbs) of natural rubber.