ARTOCARPUS COMMUNIS OR INCISA.-THE BREAD FRUIT. 
Class XXL MONCECIA.— Order XIX. MONIMLELE. 
Natural Order, ARTOCARPE^.— THE BREAD-FRUIT TRIBE. 
The bread-fruit, originally found in the south-eastern parts of Asia and the islands of the Pacific, though 
now introduced into the tropical parts of the western continent, and the West India islands, is one of the 
most interesting, as well as singular productions of the vegetable kingdom. There are two species of it ; the 
bread-fruit, properly so called ( Artocarpus incisa,) with the leaves deeply gashed or divided at the sides, 
which grows chiefly in the islands ; and the Jack fruit, or Jaca tree ( Artocarpus integrifolia,) with the leaves 
entire, which grows chiefly on the main land of Asia. The latter has been already noticed. 
The bread-fruit is a beautiful as well as a useful tree : the trunk rises to the height of about forty feet, 
and, in a full grown tree, is from a foot to fifteen inches in diameter; the bark is ash-coloured, full of little 
chinks, and covered by small knobs ; the inner bark is fibrous, and used in the manufacture of a sort of 
cloth ; and the wood is smooth, soft, and of a yellow colour. The branches come out in a horizontal 
manner, the lowest ones about ten or twelve feet from the ground ; and they become shorter and shorter as 
they are nearer the top: the leaves are divided into seven or nine lobes, about eighteen inches or two feet 
long, and are of a lively green. The tree bears male and female flowers, the males among the upper leaves, 
and the females at the extremities of the twigs. When full grown, the fruit is about nine inches long, 
heart-shaped, of a greenish colour, and marked with hexagonal warts, formed into facets. The pulp is 
white, partly farinaceous and partly fibrous ; but, when quite ripe, it becomes yellow and juicy. The 
whole tree, when in a green state, abounds with a viscid milky juice, of so tenacious a nature as to be 
drawn out in threads. 
In the island of Otaheite and other places, where the bread-fruit forms the chief support of the people, 
there are, as is the case with cultivated vegetables in all countries, many varieties; only two, however, are 
very different from each other — that which contains seeds in the fruit, and that which contains none. The 
variety with seeds is much inferior to the other, being more fibrous, containing less farina, and not so 
pleasant to the taste; it is therefore, not cultivated, though in cases of need, it is roasted and eaten. 
Whether the seedless sort has been produced wholly by cultivation it is not easy, and would not be of much 
importance, to ascertain ; it is the one cultivated in the South Sea islands ; it was originally found only 
there ; and the tree was not in much repute till these islands were discovered. 
The bread-fruit continues productive for about eight months of the year : such is its abundance, that 
two or three trees will suffice for a man’s yearly supply, a store being made in a sour paste, called make in 
the islands, which is eaten during the unproductive season. The planting of the seedless variety is now 
saved, as the creeping roots send up suckers which soon grow to trees. When the fruit is roasted till the 
outside is charred, the pulp has a consistency not very unlike that of wheaten bread ; and the taste is inter- 
mediate between that of bread and roasted chesnuts. It is said to be very nourishing, and is prepared in 
various ways. 
The timber of the bread-fruit, though soft, is found useful in the construction of houses and boats ; 
the male flowers, dried, serve for tinder ; the juice answers for bird lime and glue ; the leaves for packing 
and for towels ; and the inner bark, beaten together, makes one species of the South Sea cloth. 
The earliest account of the bread-fruit is by Captain Dampier, in 1688. “ The bread-fruit” says this 
navigator, “ grows on a large tree, as big and high as our largest apple trees ; it hath a spreading head, full 
of branches, and dark leaves. The fruit grows on the boughs like apples ; it is as big as a penny loaf, when 
