TROPICAL FRUIT TREES. 753 



flour, which is baked or fried in cakes. So common is this fruit 

 in the tropics that a huge cluster may be purchased for the 

 trifling sum of twenty -five cents, and a generous bunch always 

 hangs in the hallway or on the veranda of the hospitable planter's 

 home. 



Tradition claims that plantains flourished in the Garden of 

 Eden, together with the " tree of life " and " the tree of the knowl- 

 edge of good and evil." They are larger and more succulent than 

 bananas, and are used for almost the same purposes. Like the 



BREADFRUIT TREE. 



date-palm and the cocoanut tree, the " cabbage " of this plant is a 

 favorite article of diet. 



The breadfruit, or Artocarpus, is a native of the Indian Archi- 



