Encyclopedia > Breadfruit

  Article Content

Breadfruit

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis, Moraceae) is a tree native to East Indian and Pacific islands, but it has been widely planted in tropical regions everywhere. It was first collected and distributed by Lieutenant William Bligh as one of the botanical samples collected by HMS Bounty in the late 18th century.

It is an attractive shade tree with large leaves deeply cut into pinnate lobes. The large ovoid fruit have a rough surface, and each fruit is divided into many achenes[?], each achene surrounded by a fleshy perianth[?] and growing on a fleshy receptacle. They are very rich in starch, and before being eaten they are roasted or boiled. Some selectively bred varieties have seedless fruit.

Breadfruit is a staple food in the West Indies.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

... Pierre Trudeau very much wanted it, but many of the provincial leaders did not. Trudeau thus was forced to include the notwithstanding clause to allow provinces to opt out ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 22.3 ms