BREAD OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 61 



growing tree of the Bean family (Leguminosse), about 20 or 30 

 feet high, with prickly compound winged leaves. It is a native 

 of Brazil ; the wood is hard, takes a fine polish, and is imported 

 to this country for cabinet-work, also for dyeing. 



Brazil Nut (Bertlwlletia excelsa), a tree of the Monkey Pot sec- 

 tion of the Myrtle family (Myrtacese), attaining the height of 100 

 to 150 feet, and about 3 or 4 feet in diameter. The leaves are 

 broad, smooth, and nearly 2 feet in length. The fruit is pro- 

 duced on the upper branches, and when fully grown is in the 

 form of a perfect ball, from 4 to 6 inches in diameter ; it consists 

 of a woody shell containing a number of closely-packed three- 

 sided rough seeds (nuts) about an inch and a half in length. 

 When ripe the fruits fall from the tree and are collected by 

 troops of Indians, who split them open to obtain the nuts. The 

 tree is a native of Guiana, Venezuela, and Brazil, forming large 

 forests on the banks of the Eio Negro and the Amazon, and 

 likewise about Esmeraldoes on the Orinoco, where the natives 

 call it Juvia. The largest export of Brazil nuts is from Para ; 

 as many as 50,000 to 90,000 bushels are annually sent to this 

 country alone. A bland oil is obtained by pressure, which is 

 used by watchmakers and artists. 



Bread, native of Australia {Mylitta australis), a curious 

 fungus, forming large irregularly globose masses, which in its 

 early stage is soft, but afterwards becomes hard and horny. It 

 is eaten by the natives. 



Bread-fruit {Artocarpus incisa), a tree of the Bread-fruit 

 family (Artocarpace^e), native of Otaheite and other^slands of the 

 Pacific Ocean, attaining the height of 20 to 30 feet, having 

 spreading branches and rough lobed leaves. Its fruit (so called) 

 consists of a spongy receptacle of a globose or oblong form, like 

 a large melon about a foot in length ; it is marked on the ex- 

 terior with a diamond pattern, each mark indicating the place 

 of a female flower. The true fruits consist of nuts embedded in 

 the mass, but are seldom produced in trees under cultivation. 

 Bread-fruit, with the cocoa-nut and banana, comprises the 

 principal part of the food of the natives of the Pacific Islands. 



