Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam

Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (MORACEAE)

Common names
Kannada: Halasu.
Tulu: Pelakkai.
Malayalam: Pila, Pilavu.
Tamil: Palamaram.
English: Jack.

Description: Towering evergreen trees reaching heights of up to 25 meters. Leaves alternate, elliptic, oblong, or obovate-oblong, up to 12 x 7 cm, cuneate at base, obtuse to subacuminate at apex; stipules large, spathaceous, up to 8 x 4 cm. Flowers monoecious, on pedunculate receptacles; male inflorescence cylindric; female inflorescence ellipsoid, from old wood. Perianth lobes 2. stamen 1. Fruit a syncarp, very lare, oblong or cylindric, up to 60 cm long, tubercled. Seeds oblong or reniform.

Flowering & Fruiting: December – June.

Distribution: India: In moist deciduous to semi-evergreen forests. Native of South-West India. Cultivated elsewhere.

Uses: The golden pulp of the fruit is commonly consumed, as are the seeds once they have been roasted or boiled. Unripe jack fruit is used as a vegetable. Wood is used in the manufacture of furniture, for brush backs, inlay work, turnery and musical instruments. An extract of the heartwood with alum is used by Buddhist priests for dyeing their robes yellow. Ripe and unripe fruits, seeds and leaves are used as tonic and for treating diseases of vata and pitta, in spermatorrhoea and bleeding wounds.