THE BREADFRUIT AND ITS RELATIVES 



407 



were accustomed rather than trouble to cultivate the taste 

 for a new one. 



In Polynesia, however, the breadfruit still retains the im- 

 portant position which it occupied at the time the region 

 was first visited by Europeans. There it is a staple food and 



FIG. 52. The breadfruit (Artocarpus communis) is one of the staple foodstuffs 

 of the Polynesians. It is cultivated on a limited scale in tropical America, where 

 it was introduced toward the end of the eighteenth century. (X about \) 



really entitled, by reason of its starchy character and the role 

 which it plays in the native dietary, to the name which has 

 been bestowed on it by the English. 



The tree, when well grown, is one of the handsomest to be 

 seen within the tropics. It reaches a height of 40 to 60 feet, and 

 has large, ovate, leathery leaves which are entire at the base 



