Artocarpus

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

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Artocarpus >

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Artocarpus is a genus of about 60 trees of Southeast Asian origin and the Pacific, belonging to the mulberry family, Moraceae.

All Artocarpus species are laticiferous trees or shrubs whose leaves, twigs and the stem can produce a milky sap. They are monoecious, with unisexual flowers, with both sexes on the same plant. The small, greenish, female flowers grow on short, fleshy spikes. After pollination they grow into a syncarpous fruit, which can become very large. The ovary is superior. The stipulated leaves vary from small and entire (Artocarpus integer) to large and lobed (Artocarpus altilis). The cordate leaves of A. altilis end in a long, sharp tip.

Several species in the genus bear edible fruit and are commonly cultivated: Artocarpus altilis (Breadfruit), Artocarpus integer (Cempedak), Artocarpus heterophyllus (Jackfruit) and Artocarpus odoratissimus (Marang). In the most recent revision of Artocarpus, the highly variable species Artocarpus communis contains the following three species of breadfruit : Artocarpus altilis, Artocarpus mariannensis and Artocarpus camansi.

Breadfruit and jackfruit are cultivated widely in the tropical Southeast Asia. Other species are cultivated locally for their timber, fruit or edible seeds.

ExpandRead about Artocarpus in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Artocarpus (arlos, bread, and carpos, fruit). Moraceae. Bread-fruit. Milky-juiced tropical trees, some of them yielding edible fruits, ornamental in foliage. Leaves alternate, large, thick, entire or pinnate: dioecious; staminate fls. on long spikes, the sepals and stamens 2; pistillate fls. in globular heads, with simple 1-ovuled ovary and bifid stigma: fr. a large fleshy mass or syncarp, formed of the aggregated fls.—A genus of 40 species containing many tropical fr. plants, originally from the E. Indies, sometimes cult. with difficulty in northern botanic gardens for their great economic interest, and throughout the world in the tropics. They need a hot, moist atmosphere, much water, and perfect drainage. Prop, slowly by cuttings of young lateral growth. Bread-fruit seeds are boiled and eaten. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Species

Recent phylogenetic research, based on leaf arrangement, leaf anatomical characters and stipules, indicates that there are at least two subgenera in Artocarpus :

• subgenus Artocarpus : perianth of fruit is partially connate
• subgenus Pseudojaca : perianth entirely connate.

The genus Prainea is closely allied to the subgenus Pseudojaca, and some researchers treat it as a third subgenus of Artocarpus. The following list still follows the traditional line.

Marang (Artocarpus odoratissimus)

• Artocarpus altilis - (included in A. communis)
• Artocarpus blancoi
• Artocarpus camansi - (included in A. communis)
• Artocarpus chaplasha - Chaplaish Bangladesh
• Artocarpus communis - Breadfruit, Antipolo, Camansi, Anubing; see also African Breadfruit)
• Artocarpus elasticus - Bendo
• Artocarpus heterophyllus - Nangka, Jackfruit
• Artocarpus hirsutus - Angily, Angelin, Hirsute Artocarpus
• Artocarpus hypargyreus
• Artocarpus integer - Cempedak
• Artocarpus lingnanensis
• Artocarpus mariannensis - (included in A. communis)
• Artocarpus nitidus - Jackfruit
• Artocarpus nobilis
• Artocarpus odoratissimus - Marang
• Artocarpus rigidus - Monkey Jack
• Artocarpus rubrovenus
• Artocarpus tamaran
• Artocarpus treculianus

Gallery

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Artocarpus. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Artocarpus QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)