THE PI.ANT WORLD 199 



hexagonal areolae. The peduncles, petioles, and fleshy parts of the 

 branches are all covered with very short, fine hair, harsh to the touch. 



VARIETIES. 



All breadfruits fall under one of two great varietal heads according 

 as they do or do not mature seeds. Through long-continued cultivation 

 a portion of the trees began to produce abortive seeds and to depend 

 more and more upon human agency for the perpetuation of their kind, 

 until the seedless sort was evolved. This variety is propagated by suckers 

 from the roots, which are not especially hardy and require average care 

 in transplanting, but with the usual agricultural skill displayed by the 

 Polynesians were taken from group to group in the Pacific until the whole 

 oceanic archipelago was occupied. In their new home the differentiation 

 went on, until in some of the islands there are as many as twenty-five 

 recognized local varieties.* While there can be no doubt but that some of 

 these are identical with varieties in other groups, there is, nevertheless, 

 no way of getting a tentative descriptive list until they are grown to- 

 gether or a general survey made. 



The seeded breadfruit is almost entirely propagated by means of seeds, 

 while the seedless or abortive sort is perpetuated by suckers from the 

 roots, by branch and root cuttings, by various modifications of the pro- 

 cess of layering, and by grafting. 



RUBBER-PRODUCING QUALITIES. 



The whitish viscid juice in which this tree, like all its relatives, abounds, 

 is not the least important of its products, meeting with ready and con- 

 stant use in the islands of the Pacific as a pitch and bird lime. The 

 natives of Brazil, to whom the tree was unknown a hundred and fifty 

 years ago, use its latex as a bird lime and a substitute for glue, it being 

 entered in fact in Pearson's work on rubber substances under the name 

 of " Brazilian bird lime." It is, however, in the South Seas that it be- 

 comes of actual economic importance, being about the only available gum 

 for caulking the seams of canoes, which are in most cases not mere dug- 

 outs, but boats cunningly constructed from pieces of wood 18 inches to 

 5 feet in length and usually sewn together with the fiber prepared from 

 the husk of the coconut. 



In most lists of rubber-producing plants one member, at least, of the 

 genus Artocarpus is generally given, and the breadfruit itself has been 

 placed in this category. While it is certainly true that every part of the 

 tree, even including the fruit until complete maturity is reached, abounds 

 in a viscid milk easily obtainable by tapping, it is, however, extremely 



♦Christian records twenty-five varieties of the sterile breadfruit from Ponapein the Caroline Islands 

 (Christian, F. W. "The Caroline Islands." L,ondon, 1899). 



