Breadfruit
Breadfruit cultivated on Hawai'i Island
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Rosales Family: Moraceae Genus: Artocarpus Species: A. Plants are living Organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. The flowering plants or angiosperms ( Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta) are the most widespread group Magnoliopsida is the Botanical name for a class of Flowering plants By definition the class will include the family Magnoliaceae, but its For other meanings see Rosales (disambiguation. Rosales is an order of Flowering plants including nine families Moraceae is a family of Flowering plants commonly known as the mulberry or fig family Artocarpus is a Genus of about 60 trees of Southeast Asian origin and the Pacific belonging to the mulberry family Moraceae. altilis
Binomial name
Artocarpus altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is a tree and fruit native to the Malay Peninsula and western Pacific islands. Sydney Parkinson ( c 1745 - 26 January 1771) was a Scottish Quaker, Botanical illustrator and Natural history A tree is a perennial Woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context and the term is not synonymous in Food preparation and Biology. The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula (Semenanjung Tanah Melayu (คาบสมุทรมลายู is a major Peninsula located in Southeast The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions It has also been widely planted in tropical regions elsewhere. It was collected and distributed by Lieutenant William Bligh as one of the botanical samples collected by HMS Bounty in the late 18th century, on a quest for cheap, high-energy food sources for British slaves in the West Indies. Vice-Admiral William Bligh FRS RN (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817 was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator For the book about the mutiny by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall see Mutiny on the Bounty (novel. The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power. Slavery is a social-economic system under which certain persons — known as slaves — are deprived of personal freedom and compelled to perform labour or services The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting

Description

Breadfruit tree planted in Honolulu, Hawaii

Breadfruit trees grow to a height of 20 m (66 ft). The large and thick leaves are deeply cut into pinnate lobes. In Botany, a leaf is an above-ground Plant organ specialized for Photosynthesis. Pinnate is a term used to describe Feather -like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis in Plant or Animal structures and comes All parts of the tree yield latex, a milky juice, which is used for boat caulking. LaTeX (ˈleɪtɛ

The trees are monoecious, with male and female flowers growing on the same tree. Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of Sexual reproduction systems found across the Plant kingdom The male flowers emerge first, followed shortly afterwards by the female flowers, which grow into a capitulum, which are capable of pollination just three days later. A flower, also known as a bloom or Blossom, is the reproductive structure found in Flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also The pollinators are Old World fruit bats (Family Pteropodidae). For other uses of the term "Flying fox" see Flying fox (disambiguation Megabats is the term used informally to refer to bats For other uses of the term "Flying fox" see Flying fox (disambiguation Megabats is the term used informally to refer to bats The compound, false fruit develops from the swollen perianth and originates from 1,500-2,000 flowers. These are visible on the skin of the fruit as hexagon-like disks.

Breadfruit is one of the highest-yielding food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more fruits per season. In the South Pacific, the trees yield 50 to 150 fruits per year. In southern India, normal production is 150 to 200 fruits annually. Productivity varies between wet and dry areas. In the West Indies, a conservative estimate is 25 fruits per tree. Studies in Barbados indicate a reasonable potential of 6. 7 to 13. 4 tons per acre (16-32 tons/ha). Much higher yields have been forecast, but experts are skeptical and view these predictions as unrealistic. The grapefruit-sized ovoid fruit has a rough surface, and each fruit is divided into many achenes, each achene surrounded by a fleshy perianth and growing on a fleshy receptacle. An achene is a type of simple dry Fruit produced by many species of Flowering plants Achenes are "monocarpellate" (formed from one Carpel Some selectively-bred cultivars have seedless fruit. A cultivar is a cultivated Plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics it is usually distinct from similar

The breadfruit is closely related to the breadnut and the jackfruit. The breadnut ( Brosimum alicastrum) is a Brosimum tree species under the Moraceae family of Flowering plants whose other genera See also Mangifera caesia The jackfruit ( Artocarpus heterophyllus) is a species of Tree of the mulberry family ( Moraceae)

Uses

Breadfruit is a staple food in many tropical regions. A staple food is a Food that forms the basis of a Traditional diet. They were propagated far outside their native range by Polynesian voyagers who transported root cuttings and air-layered plants over long ocean distances. Layering is a means of Plant propagation in which a portion of an aerial stem grow Roots while still attached to the parent plant and then detaches as an They are very rich in starch, and before being eaten they are roasted, baked, fried, or boiled. Starch, CAS # 9005-25-8 Chemical formula (C6H10O5n is a Polysaccharide When cooked the taste is described as potato-like, or similar to fresh baked bread (hence the name).

The fruit of the breadfruit tree - whole, sliced lengthwise and in cross-section

Because breadfruit trees usually produce large crops at certain times of the year, preservation is an issue. One traditional preservation technique is to bury peeled and washed fruits in a leaf-lined pit where they ferment over several weeks and produce a sour, sticky paste. So stored, the product may last a year or more, and some pits are reported to have produced edible contents more than 30 years later. Fermented breadfruit mash goes by many names such as mahr, ma, masi, furo, and bwiru, among others.

Drawing of breadfruit by Sydney Parkinson

Most breadfruit varieties also produce a small number of fruits throughout the year, so fresh breadfruit is always available, but somewhat rare when not in season. Sydney Parkinson ( c 1745 - 26 January 1771) was a Scottish Quaker, Botanical illustrator and Natural history

Breadfruit can be eaten once cooked, or can be further processed into a variety of other foods. A common product is a mixture of cooked or fermented breadfruit mash mixed with coconut milk and baked in banana leaves. Whole fruits can be cooked in an open fire, then cored and filled with other foods such as coconut milk, sugar and butter, cooked meats, or other fruits. The filled fruit can be further cooked so that the flavor of the filling permeates the flesh of the breadfruit.

The Hawaiian staple food called poi made of mashed taro root is easily substituted or augmented with mashed breadfruit. Poi is a Hawaiian word for the primary Polynesian Staple food made from the Corm of the kalo plant (known widely as Taro (from Tahitian or other Polynesian languages) more rarely kalo (from Hawaiian) and gabi in The Philippines, is a The resulting “breadfruit poi” is called poi ‘ulu.

Breadfruit contains 25% carbohydrates (110kcal/100g). It has small amounts of minerals (potassium and zinc) and vitamins B1 (100μg) and C (20mg/100g).

Breadfruit was widely and diversely used among Pacific Islanders. Its wood is resistant to termites and marine worms, and consequently it was used as timber for structures and canoes. ^[1] Its wood pulp can also be used to make paper, called breadfruit tapa. ^[2] It is also used in traditional medicine to treat illnesses that range from sore eyes to sciatica. Sciatica is a set of symptoms including Pain that may be caused by general compression and/or irritation of one of five nerve roots that give rise to the Sciatic nerve ^[3]

In culture

According to an etiological Hawaiian myth, the breadfruit originated from the sacrifice of the war god Kū. Etiology (alternatively aetiology, aitiology) is the study of causation. In Hawaiian mythology Kū or Kū-ka-ili-moku ( see below) is one of the four great Gods along with Kanaloa, Kāne, and After deciding to live secretly among mortals as a farmer, Ku married and had children. He and his family lived happily until a famine seized their island. When he could no longer bear to watch his children suffer, Ku told his wife that he could deliver them from starvation, but to do so he would have to leave them. Reluctantly, she agreed, and at her word, Ku descended into the ground right where he had stood until only the top of his head was visible. His family waited around the spot he had last been day and night, watering it with their tears until suddenly a small green shoot appeared where Ku had stood. Quickly, the shoot grew into a tall and leafy tree that was laden with heavy breadfruits that Ku's family and neighbors gratefully ate, joyfully saved from starvation. ^[4]

Though they are widely distributed throughout the Pacific, many breadfruit hybrids and cultivars are seedless or otherwise biologically incapable of naturally dispersing long distances. Therefore, their distribution in the Pacific was clearly enabled by humans, specifically prehistoric groups who colonized the Pacific Islands. To investigate the patterns of human migration throughout the Pacific, scientists have used molecular dating of breadfruit hybrids and cultivars in concert with anthropological data. Results support the west-to-east migration hypothesis, in which the Lapita people are thought to have traveled from Melanesia to numerous Polynesian islands. For the Fly Genus, see Lapita (fly. Lapita is the common name Melanesia (from Greek: μέλας black, νῆσος island) means "islands of the black-skinned people" Polynesia (from Greek: πολύς many, νῆσος island) is a Subregion of Oceania, comprising a large grouping of over ^[5]

The breadfruit tree was mentioned in The Coral Island, a novel written by Scottish juvenile fiction author R.M. Ballantyne. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Young-adult fiction (often abbreviated as YA fiction, or simply YA) is Fiction written for published for or marketed to adolescents roughly between the R M Ballantyne ( April 24, 1825 &ndash February 8, 1894) was a Scottish juvenile fiction writer

The Breadnut and the Breadfruit is a short story by Maryse Condé.

See also

• Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus)
• List of fruits
• Célestine Hitiura Vaite, whose first novel Breadfruit, is reportedly the most widely read book in French Polynesia

References

1. ^ The Breadfruit Institute
2. ^ The Breadfruit Institute
3. ^ The Breadfruit Institute
4. ^ Loebel-Fried, C. See also Mangifera caesia The jackfruit ( Artocarpus heterophyllus) is a species of Tree of the mulberry family ( Moraceae) This list of culinary fruits contains the names of some fruits that are considered edible in some Cuisines The definition of fruit for these lists is a culinary fruit Célestine Hitiura Vaite (born 1966) is a Tahitian writer The daughter of a Tahitian mother and French father Vaite grew up in the commune of Faaa (Faa'a French Polynesia ( French: Polynésie française, Tahitian: Pōrīnetia Farāni) is a French Overseas collectivity in the (2002)
5. ^ Zerega, et al. (2004)

• The Breadfruit Institute
• Loebel-Fried, C. (2002): Hawaiian Legend of the Guardian Spirits. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. Excerpted story online
• Zerega, N. J. C. ; Ragone, D. & Motley, T. J. (2004): The complex origins of breafruit (Artocarpus altilis, Moraceae): Implications for human migrations in Oceania. American Journal of Botany 91(5): 760-766. The American Journal of Botany ( is a peer-reviewed scientific journal which includes research papers on all aspects of plant biology PDF full text

External links

• A Voyage to the South Sea by William Bligh, 1792, from Project Gutenberg. Year 1792 ( MDCCXCII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works The title in part of Bligh's own account of the famous mutiny is: A Voyage to the South Sea, undertaken by command of His Majesty, for the purpose of conveying the bread-fruit tree to the West Indies
• The Breadfruit Institute
• Fruits of Warm Climates: Breadfruit
• Know and Enjoy Tropical Fruit: Jackfruit, Breadfruit & Relatives
• Artocarpus altilis (Moraceae)
• D. For the book about the mutiny by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall see Mutiny on the Bounty (novel. Ragone (1997). Breadfruit. Artocarpus altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg. 10 Promoting the conservation and use of underutilized and neglected crops. Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben/International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy.