Breadfruit

Description:

Easily 40-60 feet tall, with branches spanning a similar-size diagonally, dark-green lobed leaves and lime-green globes, weighing up to 10 pounds each. The tree bears a multitude of tiny flowers, the male densely set on a drooping, cylindrical or club-shaped spike 5 to 12 in (12.5-30 cm) long and 1 to 1 1/2 in (2.5-3.75 cm) thick, yellowish at first and becoming brown. The female are massed in a somewhat rounded or elliptic, green, prickly head, 2 1/2 in (6.35 cm) long and 1 1/2 in (3.8 cm) across, which develops into the compound fruit (or syncarp), oblong, cylindrical, ovoid, rounded or pearshaped, 3 1/2 to 18 in (9-45 cm) in length and 2 to 12 in (5-30 cm) in diameter. The thin rind is patterned with irregular, 4- to 6-sided faces, in some "smooth" fruits level with the surface, in others conical; in some, there may rise from the center of each face a sharp, black point, or a green, pliable spine to 1/8 in (3 mm) long or longer. Some fruits may have a harsh, sandpaper-like rind. Generally the rind is green at first, turning yellowish-green, yellow or yellow-brown when ripe, though one variety is lavender. Breadfruit is borne singly or in 2's or 3's at the branch tips of this handsome, large-leaved tree. In the green stage, the fruit is hard and the interior is white, starchy and somewhat fibrous. When fully ripe, the fruit is somewhat soft, the interior is cream colored or yellow and pasty, also sweetly fragrant. The seeds are irregularly oval, rounded at one end, pointed at the other, about 3/4 in (2 cm) long, dull-brown with darker stripes. In the center of seedless fruits there is a cylindrical or oblong core, in some types covered with hairs bearing flat, brown, abortive seeds about 1/8 in (3 mm) long. The fruit is borne singly or in clusters of 2 or 3 at the branch tips. The fruit stalk (pedicel) varies from 1 to 5 in (2.5-12.5 cm) long.

Habitat:

Hale Koa Hotel grounds.

Notes:

The breadfruit's proponents say it has unique qualities that could help feed the world's poor. One tree, a member of the fig family, can produce 450 pounds of fruit per season. The fruit packs 121 calories in a half-cup serving and is rich in fiber, potassium, phosphorous, calcium, copper and other nutrients. Its texture and yeasty odor remind some people of fresh bread. Breadfruit is believed to have originated in Java. Voyagers took it to Malaysia and, in the 14th century, to the Marquesas, where it spread to the rest of Polynesia. For many the nutrition-packed, starchy fruit became the staff of life. Back in early Polynesian time, breadfruit had reached the Hawaiian islands near 750 AD, and over the centuries contributed quietly to just about everything the Hawaiians needed to survive. The trunk was used to make surf boards, drums, canoe parts, poi boards and wood for house and furniture construction. The inner bark lent itself as a second-grade tapa cloth. Leaf sheaths, like the finest of abrasives, polished utensils, bowls, or kukui nuts used for leis. The young buds were a medicine for mouth and throat. The white sticky sap became glue, caulking, chewing gum, or medicine. As bird lime it caught the colorful birds with their coveted feathers. And of course breadfruit filled the stomach of many Hawaiian.