Note: Information is dated. Do not rely on it.

Breadfruit. A large globular fruit, about the size of a child's head, marked on the surface with irregular six-sided depressions, and containing a white and somewhat fibrous pulp. When ripe the fruit becomes juicy and yellow. The tree that produces it grows wild in Otaheite and other islands of the South Seas, whence it was introduced into the West Indies and South America. It is about forty feet high, with spreading branches growing from the top of a slender stem, and large, bright green leaves deeply divided into seven or nine spear-shaped lobes. The fruit is generally eaten immediately after being gathered, but is also often prepared so as to keep for some time either by baking it whole in close underground pits or by beating it into paste and storing it underground, when a slight fermentation takes place. The eatable part lies between the skin and the core, and is somewhat of the consistency of new bread. Mixed with cocoanut milk it makes an excellent pudding. The inner bark of the tree is made into a kind of cloth. The wood is used for the building of boats and furniture. The Jack, much used in India and Ceylon, is another member of this genus.

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