Saturday, July 18, 2009

Breadfruit, A Tree That Bear Many Gifts!..

The breadfruit tree is no doubt a spectacular evergreen. It originated in the forests of Malaysia. As a member of the family Moraceae, it is a relative of the fig, mulberry, and jack-fruit trees. When mature, it may grow to a height of 12 meters, and it puts out suckers that can be cut and planted. The breadfruit tree produces distinct male and female flowers in separate clusters. These flowers, which in the wild depend small fruit-eating bats for their pollination and seed dissemination, develop into large round or oval fruits, about the small size of a mellon, green outside and cream to golden yellow inside.
The breadfruit tree also produces very large, glossy, dark-green leaves, which provide welcome shade from the hot tropical sun. Its softy, lightweight wood is used for making furniture and canoes, while the inner bark is sometimes used to make a kind of cloth known throughout the Pacific as tapa. The milky sap is used as a waterproofing compound, and in some places the latex has been used to plaster bone fractures and even as a glue to capture birds.
Did the breadfruit get here by chance or designed?

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