The Plant World 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF POPULAR BOTANY 



Official Organ of 

 The Wild Flower Preservation Society 



OF America 



Vol. VI DECEMBER, 1903 No. 12 



The Breadfruit.— 1 1 1.* 



By Henry E. Baum. 



The breadfruit tree, celebrated chiefly on account of the bread-Hke 

 appearance of the pulp of the seedless sort, is also not to be despised as 

 a yielder of useful articles to the natives of the climes in which it flourishes. 

 Aside from the edible quality of the fruit there are many uses to which 

 various portions and products of the tree itself are put. The possibilities 

 inherent in the milky viscid juice have already been discussed in the 

 opening paper of this series. Bird-lime, paint medium, caulking for 

 canoes, and sizing for wicker pots are some of the uses to which this milk 

 is put. Rubber, however, from Artocarpus is practically settled as being 

 at the best a negative proposition, although many interesting experiments 

 with the latex of this plant are still to be performed before final conclusions 

 can be formulated. 



IMPORTANCE TO NATIVES. 



Although not so widely used either as a food or useful plant as in 

 primitive times, nevertheless the breadfruit is still one of the most impor- 

 tant plants to the Polynesian Islander. Rutland, t writing on the history 

 of the Pacific, quotes from Moresby to the effect that the coconut and 

 breadfruit are the only two large trees capable of growing on the small 

 purely coral islands, hence their importance in Polynesia where so many 

 of these islands exist. 



* Concluded from October issue. + Rutland , Trans. New Zealand Instit, 39 : 9. 



