"68 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



naturalized in the Isle of France, in tropical America ' and bears fruit in Ceylon and Burma.* 

 It is more especially an object of care and cultivation in the Marquesas and the Friendly 

 and Society Islands. The tree was conveyed to the Isle of France from Luzon in the 

 Philippines by Sonnerat. In 1792, from Tahiti and Timor, Capt. Bligh, who was com- 

 missioned by the British Government for this purpose, took a store of plants and in 1793 

 landed 333 breadfruit trees at St. Vincent and 347 at Port Royal, Jamaica.' In the 

 ctiltivated breadfruit, the seeds are almost always abortive, leaving their places empty * 

 which shows that its cultivation goes back to a remote antiqiuty. This seedlessness does 

 not hold true, however, of all varieties, of which there are many. Chamisso ' describes 

 a variety in the Mariana Islands with small fruit contaimng seeds which are frequently 

 perfect. Sonnerat foimd in the Philippines a breadfnut, which he considered as wild, 

 which bears ripe seeds of a considerable size.' In Tahiti, there are eight varieties without 

 seeds and one variety with seeds which is inferior to the others.^ Nine varieties are 

 credited by Wilkes ' to the Fiji Islands and twenty to the Samoan.' Captain Cook,'" 

 at Tahiti, in 1769, describes the fruit as about the size and shape of a child's head, with 

 the surface reticulated not much unlike a truffle, covered with a thin skin and having 

 a core about as big as the handle of a small knife. 



The eatable part of breadfruit lies between the skin and the core and is as white as 

 snow and somewhat of the consistence of new bread. It must be roasted before it is eaten. 

 Its taste is insipid, with a slight sweetness, somewhat resembling that of the crumb of 

 wheaten bread mixed with a Jerusalem artichoke. Wilkes " says the best varieties when 

 baked or roasted are not unlike a good custard pudding. If the breadfruit is to be pre- 

 served, it is scraped from the rind and buried in a pit where it is allowed to ferment, when 

 it subsides into a mass somewhat of the consistency of new cheese. These pits when 

 opened emit a nauseous, fetid, sour odor, and the color of the contents is a greenish-yellow. 

 In this state it is called mandraiuta, or native bread, of which several kinds are distinguished. 

 It is said that it will keep several years and is cooked with cocoanut milk, in which state 

 it forms an agreeable and nutritious food. This tree affords one of the most generous 

 sources of nutriment that the world possesses .According to Foster,!^ twenty-seven bread- 

 fruit trees, which would cover an English acre with their shade, are svifiicient for the support 

 of from ten to twelve people during the eight months of fruit-bearing. Breadfruit is 

 called in Tahiti maiore, in Hawaii aeiore}^ 



Unger, P. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 315. 1859. 



Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 426. 1874. 

 Enc.BnV. 5:301. 1844. 8th Ed. 



De Candolle, A. P. Feg. Organ. 2:174. 1840. 

 ' Darwin, C. Ans. Pis. Domest. 2:256, 1893. 



Forster, J. R. Obs. 179. 1778. Note. 

 ' Lunan, J. Hort. Jam. 1:11$. 1814. 

 Wilkes, C. U. S. Explor. Exped. 3:332. 1845. 

 Wilkes, C. U. S. Explor. Exped. 2:121. 1845. 



"Cook Voyage y.207. 1773. 



" Wilkes, C. U. S. Explor. Exped. 3:333. 1845. 



" Peschel, O. Races Man 156. 1876. 



Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 437. 1879. 



