Breadfruit is an evergreen tree with a wide crown; it can grow up to 30 metres tall, though is usually smaller.
The straight, cylindrical bole, which is often buttressed, can be 1.8 metres in diameter.
The tree can become deciduous when grown in areas with a distinct dry season.
A multipurpose tree with a wide range of traditional uses as a food, medicine and source of materials. It is especially valued for its edible fruit and also provides a commercial timber known as "terap". The tree has been cultivated as a food crop since prehistory in Malaya.
It is now widely cultivated in most tropical regions for its edible fruit and seeds and has become a staple food in many regions.

Known Hazards

None known

Habitat

Not known

Cultivation Status

Cultivated

Cultivation Details

A plant of the humid tropics, growing best in lowland areas below 650 metres, though also succeeding at elevations up to 1,550 metres.
It prefers a mean annual temperature in the range of 21 - 32°c, tolerating it as low as 12°c and as high as 40°c.
Plants can be injured if temperatures drop below 5°c.
Rainfall should be in the range1,500 - 2,500mm, exceptionally to 3,000mm.
It prefers rainfall of fairly equal distribution but is quite tolerant of short dry periods.
Prefers a deep, fertile, well-drained soil.

Edible Uses

Breadfruit is a versatile food that can be cooked and eaten at all stages of its development.
The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked.
The unripe fruit, as small as 2 - 6cm in diameter, is eaten as a starchy vegetable with a flavour similar to that of artichoke hearts.
Ripe fruits are somewhat sweet and are occasionally eaten raw, but are more often cooked as a starchy vegetable or fermented into a cheese-like food.
The mature fruit can be dried and ground into a flour.
The mature fruit is about 20cm long.

Medicinal

Breadfruit has a very wide range of applications in traditional medicine with all parts of the plant being utilised in the treatment of a range of conditions.
Research has shown the presence of a number of active compounds in the plant:-
The fruit contains artocarpine and the enzyme papayotine.
The leaf contains the phenols quercetin and camphorol, plus gamma-aminobutyric acid, which lowers the blood pressure.
The stem-bark and fruit contain cyclopropane sterols.

Agroforestry Uses

None Recorded

Other Uses

The male flower spikes are blended with fibre of paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) to make elegant loincloths.
The inner layer of bark, or bast, was used to make bark cloth (tapa).
Traditionally it had ceremonial and ritual uses, was also used for beddings and items of clothing such as cloaks, loincloths and robes.
Breadfruit bast makes good cordage with a diverse range of uses such as harnesses for water buffalo and nets for catching sharks.
The sticky, milky sap is a gum that is used to caulk canoes to make them watertight and can be used as an adhesive to seal and prepare wooden surfaces for painting.
A sticky latex is present in all parts of the tree and has many uses. It is used as a chewing gum in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Can be used as an adhesive for bark cloth and for caulking canoes.
The latex can be mixed with coconut oil for trapping houseflies.
The inflorescence has been used to make a yellow tan to brown dye.
The fat extracted from the seed is a light-yellow liquid, viscous at room temperature, with a characteristic odour similar to that of peanuts. It has a chemical number and physical properties similar to those of olive oil.
The dried, hard flowers can be burned as a mosquito repellent.
The leaves are widely used as plates and also to wrap food for cooking and serving.

Propagation

Seeds should be sown immediately after extraction, as they lose viability quickly.
Root cuttings and air layering are also viable methods for propagation.