CHAPTER XV 

 THE BREADFRUIT AND ITS RELATIVES 



NOTWITHSTANDING their very different appearance, the 

 breadfruits are of the same family (Moracese) as the mul- 

 berries, fig, and osage orange. The breadfruits, however, 

 are tropical, whereas the fig is grown as a warm-temperate 

 and subtropical fruit. The genus Artocarpus, comprising 

 the breadfruit and its relatives, includes some 30 species. 



THE BREADFRUIT (Figs. 52, 53) 

 (Artocarpus communis, Forst.) 



Among the horticultural products brought to the atten- 

 tion of Europeans by the early voyagers to the East, few were 

 considered of such interest and value as the breadfruit. The 

 importance of its introduction into the British colonies in the 

 West Indies was felt to be so great that His Majesty's govern- 

 ment toward the end of the eighteenth century fitted out an 

 expedition for the sole purpose of transporting the plants from 

 Tahiti, in Polynesia, to Jamaica and other islands in the Ameri- 

 can tropics. On the failure of this expedition, due to the 

 mutiny of the crew, a second and successful one was under- 

 taken. 



Contrary to expectations, the breadfruit did not prove of 

 great value to the West Indian colonies. The banana is 

 more productive and gives more prompt returns, and the 

 negroes preferred to continue eating a fruit to which they 



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