PlantFiles: Breadfruit
Artocarpus altilis

This is one of the most interesting plants there is. The Breadfruit came from S.E. Asia and was distributed throughout Polynesia by the ancient Polynesians as they voyaged from island to island. But the weird thing is, certain varieties, like the ones in Hawaii, have NO SEEDS. In other places in Polynesia, they still do have seeds. The only method of propogation is via root cuttings which the Polynesians would take with them on their canoes. The HMS Bounty (as in Mutiny on the Bounty) was sent from England to Polynesia to collect Breadfruit to bring to Jamaica and the Carribean.

If anyone has the seedless variety, please let me know.

Breadfruit are widely naturalized in Ecuador. Although eating the cooked fruit on its own is fairly bland, if it's cored out halfway through the cooking process and filled with coconut cream and curry, and often lumps of chicken, the flesh takes on the flavour of the sauce and becomes much more palatable.

I do not currently grow this tree, but have friends who do, and all of them really like it, both for the foliage and the fruits.

I have not grown this plant. Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) after being introduced to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands has become naturalized.

Have twice had neighbors with these trees and think them very attractive with the large leaves as palmbob described. The leaf is a traditional and popular design in Hawaiian quilting. The fruit is nasty when it drops. Have had to clean up many a splatted fruit, but still like the tree. it is native to Malaysia.

The tree has beautiful leaves. The fruit takes getting used to but it is no more unpleasant than eating a tuber (malanga, ñame, güagüi, taro, etc) without seasoning.....

I use the pulp to make a dough for a pizza with fruit toppings...nice!

I don't have one in our yard, but they are all around us, so getting fruit is not difficult. We call them ULU, here.......(u like in oo - lou)

This is a very common tree in the tropics, used for food, medicine, construction (sap is sticky and useful) and as a landscape specimen. There are several varieties of this tree with fruit that has large seeds, to most commonly grown, the seedless variety. The fruits are very high in carbs and low in fats... and frankly take a bit of getting used to I think (not there yet). The tree is a very nice looking one with huge, deeply lobed bright green leaves, that turn an ornamental orange before falling off. It is planted all over Hawaii as a street tree because of its high ornamental appeal.