A R T O C 
ficarpium: fruit ovate-globular, compound, muricate. 
Seeds: for each germ folitary, oblong, covered with a 
pulpy aril, placed on an ovate receptacle .—EJfcndal Cha- 
raEler. Male. Ament. Calyx, none ; corolla, two-petalled. 
Female : calyx and corolla, none ; lfyle, one ; berries one- 
feeded, connected and forming a roundifli muricated fruit. 
Species, x. Artocarpus incifa, or bread-fruit tree : leaves 
gaflied. The fubject of the bread-fruit tree is (b intereft- 
ing, and the tree itl'elf fo little known at prefent in Eu¬ 
rope, that we (hall collect together the fub(lance of what 
mod authors of credit have deported concerning it. The 
younger Linnaeus has thus defcribed this remarkable tree. 
It grows to the height of thirty or forty feet, with a trunk 
the thicknefs of the human body. Leaves alternate, pe- 
tioled, oblong, deeply gaflied, fcabrous, two feet long. 
Stipules two, lanceolate, large, hirfute on the outlide, in¬ 
cluding the younger leaves, caducous. Aments on the 
outmoft branches violet-coloured, peduncled, male and 
female on the fame twig. The whole tree, and the fruit, 
before it is ripe, abound in a very tenacious milky juice, 
that may be drawn out into threads. Forfter’s defcription 
is more full in fome particulars. This tree is the thick¬ 
nefs of a man, and forty feet high, or more : the trunk is 
upright, the wood foft, fmooth, and yellowidi, the inner 
bark white, compofed of a net of diffidi fibres, the outer 
bark fmooth, but full of chinks, pale adi-colour, with 
fmall tubercles thinly fcattered over it. Wherever the 
tree is wounded, it pours out a glutinous milky liquor. 
The branches form an ample almod globular head ; the 
lower ones, which are the longed, fpring from the trunk 
ten or twelve feet above the ground, fpreading out almod 
horizontally, fcattered, and in a fort of whorl : twigs af- 
cending, bearing flowers and fruits at their ends. Leaves 
alternate, petioled, ovate, deeply divided above the mid¬ 
dle into /even or nine lanceolate acute lobes, with rounded 
limiles ; they are otherwife quite entire, fmooth on both 
fides, even, fpreading, bright green, paler underneath, 
membranaceous, a foot and a halt in length, eleven inches 
wide, veined, having a thick nerve to each lobe diverging 
from the common rachis. The younger leaves, like all 
the more tender parts of the tree, are glutinous to the 
touch. Petioles roundifli, even, afeending, two inches in 
length. Stipules in pairs, involving the younger leaves, 
lanceolate, acuminate, concave, entire, fmooth within, 
hairy on the outfide, deciduous, three inches long. Pe¬ 
duncles at the ends of the twigs, and in the axils of the 
upper leaves, folitary, round, upright, having a few hairs 
on them, and two inches in length. The male flowers are 
among the upper leaves; and the female flowers at the 
ends of the twigs. The male ament is club-fhaped, flefliy, 
upright, a fpan long, covered with innumerable fmall 
feflile florets. The proper perianthium is very fmall, 
two-valved, the valves equal, oblong, blunt, concave, 
clofely adhering, flnit, yellowifli-brown ; this is called the 
corolla in the generic character. Thefe have no (pathes. 
The female flowers have bivalve fpathes, ovate-lanceo¬ 
late, compretfed, acuminate, upright, bent in at the tip, 
foft, a fpan in length, at fil'd clofed, then deciduous, placed 
at the end of the peduncle. Spadix globular, covered witJ\ 
very many connate germs ; thefe aie obcomcal, itnmerfed 
in the receptacle, fomewhat convex at the top. Styles 
fcarcely any. Stigmas, projecting points, withering : in 
fome varieties thefe are bifid, according to Tlninberg. 
The fruit is a globular berry, fmoethifh, marked with 
hexagons on the furface, pale green, when larged a long 
fpan or nine inches in length, filled with a white, farina¬ 
ceous, fomewhat fibrous, pulp, which when the fruit is 
ripe becomes juicy and yellow : it is fadened to a club- 
fhaped flefliy receptacle, which is longitudinally fibrous, 
and a hand in length. Tlninberg deferibes it thus : it is 
an upright tree, with a trunk the thicknefs of a man’s 
body, thirty feet high. Branches fadigiate and oppofite, 
fomewhat. verticillate by fours, fpreading. Leaves alter¬ 
nate, petioled, oblong, deeply gaflied beyond the middle, 
xune-lobed, quite entire, yillole and rugged, fpreading, 
Vol. li. No, 6S. 
A R P U S. 2 3T 
green on the upper furface with pale nerves, pale under¬ 
neath ; two feet long, and a foot broad ; when young, 
plaited, and vifeid. Petioles thick, fomewhat triangular, 
villofe, an inch in length. Stipules wrapping up the 
younger leaves, two, feflile, lanceolate, acuminate, con¬ 
cave, quite entire, fmooth on the inline, hirfute without, 
deciduous. Flowers at the ends of the twigs, male and 
female diftinCt on the fame twig. Peduncle roundifli, 
villole, upright, two inches long, the thicknefs of a finger. 
Spadix a fpan in lengthy drooping, deciduous. Fruit the 
(ize of a child’s head, fometimes having abortive feeds, 
and fometimes none. It flowers and produces ripe fruit 
twice in the year. Dampier fays, that the bread-fruit 
. grows on a large tree, as big and high as our largeft ap¬ 
ple trees. It hath a fpreading head full of branches and 
dark leaves. The fruit grows on the boughs like apples: 
it is as big as a penny loaf when wheat is at five (hillings 
the bufliel. It is of a round fliape, and hath a thick tough 
rind. When the fruit is ripe it is yellow and foft, and the 
tafte is fweet and pleafant. The natives of Guam life it 
for bread : they gather it when full grown, while it is 
green and hard ; then they bake it in an oven, which 
icorches the rind and makes it black ; but they (crape off 
the outfide black cruft, and there remains a tender thin 
cruft, and the infide is foft, tender, and white, like the 
crumb of a penny loaf. There is neither feed nor (tone in 
the infide, but all is of a pure fubftance like bread. It 
mu ft be eaten new, for, if it is kept above twenty-four 
hours, it becomes dry and choaky, but it is very pleafant 
before it is too dale. This fruit lafts in feafon eight months 
in the year; during which time the natives eat no other 
fort of food of bread kind. I did never lee of this fruit 
any where but here ; but the natives told us, that there 
is plenty of this fruit growing on the reft-of the Ladrone 
iftands. According to the obfervation of Rumphius, this' 
tree has a few fpreading crooked branches, thinly covered 
with leaves, placed on thick (hurt foot-ftalks, fix or (even 
only forming a tuft, furrounding the extremity of the 
branch in form of a rofe : they are large, ft iff, and have 
underneath a thick prominent nerve; they are cut on each 
fide into four or five deep fegments refembling the leaves 
of an oak, but each divilion ends in a point : they are 
about two (pans long, and little lefs in width ; a glutinous 
milky juice flows from any part of the tree when wound¬ 
ed. The ament (hoots up among the upper leaves : it is 
about the length of one’s hand, and as thick as the thumb, 
pliant, foft, and woolly ; the fruit likewife grows up a- 
mong the leaves ; it is fltaped like a heart, and increafes 
to the lizc of a child’s head : the rind is thick, green, and 
covered every where with warts, of a quadragonal or hex¬ 
agonal figure, like cut diamonds, but without points. The 
more flat and fmooth thefe warts are, the few'er feeds are 
contained in the fruit, and the greater is the quantity of 
pith, and that of a more glutinous nature. The internal 
part of the rind confifts of a flefliy fubftance, full of twifted 
fibres, which have the appearance of fine wool ; thefe ad¬ 
here to and in fome meafure form it. The flelhy part 
becomes loiter towards the middle, wdiere there is a fmall 
cavity formed without any nuts or feeds, except in one 
variety, which has but a fmall number ; and this fort is 
not good, unlefs it be baked, or prepared fome other way ;' 
but if the outward rind is taken oft',' and the fibrous fleih 
dried, and afterwards boiled with meat as we do cabbage, 
it has then the tafte of artichoke bottoms. The inhabi¬ 
tants of Amboyna drefs it in the liquor of cocoa-nuts ; but 
they prefer it roafted on coals, til! the outward part or peel 
is burnt; they afterwards cut it into pieces, and eat it with 
the milk of the cocoa-nut. Some people make fritters of 
it, and fry it in oil; and others, as the Sumatrians, dry 
the internal foft part, and keep it to ufe inftead of bread 
with other food. It affords a great deal of nourifhment, 
and is very fatisfying ; and, being of a gently aftringent 
quality, is good for perfons of a lax habit. It is more 
nourilhing boiled with fat meat, than roafted' on coals, 
The milky juice, which diftils from the trunk, boiled with 
3 P cocoa. 
