DESCRIPTION OF PACIFIC ISLAND BREADFRUIT CULTIVARS

Breadfruit has long been an important staple crop in the Pacific islands. Principally important as a carbohydrate food source, every portion of the breadfruit tree has yielded materials useful to islanders. There are two species of breadfruit in the Pacific Islands, Artocarpus altilis and A. mariannensis as well as possible hybrids. Artocarpus altilis is the most widely distributed species and exhibits great variability. Hundreds of cultivars have been named and described with more than 2,000 vernacular names recorded from 22 island groups. An elaborate system of folk taxonomy is used to distinguish between and assign names to different cultivars. Distinctions are based on bearing season, fruit shape, flesh color, presence of seeds, cooking or storage qualities of the fruit, tree form, leaf shape and horticultural requirements. A germplasm collection of 228 trees from 17 Pacific island groups was established at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii.