Artocarpus is a genus of approximately 60 trees and shrubs of Southeast Asian and Pacific origin, belonging to the mulberry family, Moraceae. Most species of Artocarpus are restricted to Southeast Asia; a few cultivated species are more widely distributed, especially A. altilis (breadfruit) and A. heterophyllus (jackfruit), which are cultivated throughout the tropics.[2]
Description
All Artocarpus species are laticiferoustrees or shrubs that are composed of leaves, twigs and stems capable of producing a milky sap. The flora type is monoecious and produces unisexual flowers; furthermore, both sexes are present within the same plant. The plants produce small, greenish, female flowers that grow on short, fleshy spikes. Following pollination, the flowers grow into a syncarpous fruit, and these are capable of growing into very large sizes. The stipulated leaves vary from small and entire (Artocarpus integer) to large and lobed (Artocarpus altilis), with the cordate leaves of the species A. altilis ending in long, sharp tips.
Although fossils of Artocarpus have been reported from as early as the Late Cretaceous, these fossils generally that lack key diagnostic characters such as that could definitively place them in the genus. The last common ancestor of all living Artocarpus likely originated in the vicinity of Borneo, from which Artocarpus dispersed elsewhere in Asia and Oceania.[3]
Subgenera
Recent phylogenetic research, based on leaf arrangement, leaf anatomical characters and stipules, indicates that there are at least two subgenera in Artocarpus:
Subgenus Artocarpus: Perianth of fruit is partially connate (fused).
Subgenus Pseudojaca: Perianth is entirely connate.
Fossil leaves and fruits of †Artocarpus dicksoni have been found in Cretaceous formations of West Greenland. Fossil leaves of †Artocarpus ordinarius have been found in Cretaceousstratum at the south bank of the Yukon River just above Rampart, Alaska.[8] Fossils of †Artocarpus californica have been described from Eocene and Miocenestrata of the Pacific coast of California and Oregon.[9] 8 fossil species of Artocarpus (†A. capellinii, †A. isseli, †A. macrophylla, †A. massalongoi, †A. multinervis, †A. ovalifolia, †A. sismondai and †A. taramellii) from the lower Oligocene, have been described from a fossil leaves collected from 1857 to 1889 in Santa Giustina and Sassello in Central Liguria, Italy.[10]
Breadfruit and jackfruit are cultivated widely in the tropical Southeast Asia. Other species are cultivated locally for their timber, fruit or edible seeds. Anjily, A. hirsutus, is grown for fruit and timber in the Western Ghats.
Gallery
Artocarpus elasticus, Heritage Tree, Terap, Fort Canning, Singapore
Bark of Artocarpus nitidus subsp. lingnanensis
Marang (A. odoratissimus) is in the Artocarpus subgenus.
^The Tertiary floras of Alaska: Issues 181–184 by Charles Arthur Hollick – 1 January 1936 – U.S. Gov't. Print. Off.
^The Lower Ecene Floras of Southeastern North America by Edward Wilber Berry, Professional Paper – United States Geological Survey, The Survey, 1916
^Oligocene fossil leaves of the Perrando Collection: history, preservation and paleoclimatic meaning by Maria Cristina Bonci, Grazia Vannucci, Simona Tacchino & Michele Piazza – Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 50 (3), 2011, 145–164. Modena, 30 dicembre 2011 – ISSN 0375-7633 – doi:10.4435/BSPI.2011.14
References
Zerega, N. J. C. and T. J. Motley. 2001. Artocarpus (Moraceae) molecular phylogeny and the systematics and origins of breadfruit, Artocarpus altilis. Botanical Society of America Annual Meeting. Albuquerque, NM. August 12–16, 2001.
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