The tree that provides bread for the poor is revered

The further you go into La Selva, the Amazonian tropical forest, the more vultures you'll see perched on breadfruit trees. This is an image that symbolizes the plight of the poor, for it undoubtedly means a death - perhaps even that a whole village has been carried off by an epidemic - and consequently no one is going out to pick the breadfruit. And yet, this tree continues to be revered as it provides bread for the poor.

Breadfruit was a cause of the mutiny on the Bounty!
You've probably heard the story of Captain Bligh and the Mutiny on the Bounty… but do you know what caused the mutiny?

The Bounty was sent to Tahiti in 1789 to take saplings of the breadfruit tree and transport them to the West Indies for cultivation. The expedition failed when the crew mutinied during the second leg of the journey. They didn't like the idea that they were dying of thirst while the plants were still being watered. Several years later breadfruit plants reached St. Vincent, and from there saplings were eventually taken to other islands.

The breadfruit is closely connected to all aspects of Hawaiian life As soon as you see a breadfruit grove in Hawaii, no matter how small, you can be pretty sure that it marks the site of an ancient settlement. Called ulu in Hawaiian, breadfruit was brought to Hawaii by the first Polynesian settlers in their canoes from the southern reaches of Oceania.

The wood of the breadfruit tree is very light and Hawaiian artisans have used it since earliest times to fashion canoes, woodwork for houses, drums, surfboards and poi boards.

A poor quality cloth is also made from the inner bark of the young branches.

The rough covering of the breadfruit, called malulu, is used like sandpaper to polish bowls and cooking utensils. It is also used to polish candlenuts, or kakui, which can be strung together to form a traditional lei, the garland presented as a sign of welcome to visitors arriving on the Hawaiian islands.

In Oceanic mythology, ulu or breadfruit symbolizes creation and the Creator's unlimited generosity. Its beautiful leaves are often used as designs on Hawaiian quilts, and are printed on fabric, ceramics and other objects. Even Maui College and the Hana-Maui Hotel use the breadfruit leaf as their logo.

Planting an ulu tree means giving a child of the country a long life, free from famine.

Once set in this South Seas archipelago was the little island of Ngibtal, situated in the ocean a few cable's lengths east of the large island of Babeldoab. The little island's only asset was a magic breadfruit tree whose hollow trunk stood by the edge of the lagoon. The old lady who lived near the tree chopped a branch from it, and with every wave that came into shore, a gush of water emerged from the cut in the breadfruit tree, bringing with it a fish.

The other islanders grew envious, saying "We have to catch our fish from the sea, while this old lady has only to gather the fish that spout from her breadfruit tree!" One day they came to cut down the magic breadfruit tree with saws made of clam shells. The water that had once spurted out intermittently from the tree now gushed out in a great torrent, flooding the island, which disappeared forever. However it is said that the tree's sawn-off trunk can still be seen in the clear waters of the lagoon, though the wicked islanders have long since disappeared, sent by the gods to another fate.