Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants

Artocarpus altilis

Family: Moraceae (Mulberry family)
Genus: Artocarpus
Botanical name: Artocarpus altilis
PLANT NAME IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
Sanskrit: Kshudrapanasa
English: Bread fruit
Hindi: Bilatti kat hal
Malayalam: Kadappilavu, Kadaplav, Seemaplav, Kadachakka

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
Breadfruit trees grow to a height of 85 feet (26 m). The large and thick leaves are deeply cut into pinnatelobes. All parts of the tree yield latex, a milky juice, which is useful for boat caulking.
The trees are monoecious, with male and female flowers growing on the same tree. The male flowers emerge first, followed shortly afterward by the female flowers, which grow into capitula, which are capable ofpollination just three days later. The pollinators are Old World fruit bats in the family Pteropodidae. The compound, false fruit develops from the swollen perianth, and originates from 1,500-2,000 flowers. These are visible on the skin of the fruit as hexagon-like disks.
Breadfruit is one of the highest-yielding food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more fruits per season. In the South Pacific, the trees yield 50 to 150 fruits per year. In southern India, normal production is 150 to 200 fruits annually. Productivity varies between wet and dry areas. In the Caribbean, a conservative estimate is 25 fruits per tree.
The Fruits and Latex of Bread fruit is used for general weakness. anorexia, colic and local inflammation.