HEIGHT up to 100 ft (30 m)
TYPE Evergreen/Deciduous
OCCURRENCE New Guinea, Pacific Islands
Widely cultivated for its edible fruit, the breadfruit tree has a straight trunk and a wide crown with large, spreading branches. BARK Gray, smooth; exudes sticky white latex. LEAF Alternate, large, with 5–11 lobes, pointed tips, glossy bright green above, stiff hairs beneath, with prominent yellowish nerves; stipules are large and conical, leaving scars encircling the stem at the nodes when they fall off. FLOWER Males and females borne on the same tree, inconspicuous, grouped in fleshy inflorescences; males: yellowish brown, densely set on a drooping, cylindrical to clubshaped spike; females: upright, in a rounded to oval prickly head which develops into a compound fruit. FRUIT Spherical to oblong syncarp, often with a warty or spiny surface, 4–12 in (10–30 cm) wide, borne singly or in clusters of two or three at the ends of branches; white, starchy when unripe, usually fragrant when ripe, few seeds,sometimes seedless.
