Breadnut. Maya nut
Brosimum alicastrum

Family: Moraceae

What it is like

An evergreen, large fruiting foliage tree and member of the great fig family which includes breadfruit and jakfruit.

Brosimum alicastrum is an evergreen Tree growing to 30 m (98ft) by 25 m (82ft) at a medium rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 10. The flowers are pollinated by Bees. Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils and can grow in saline soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil and can tolerate drought.

Height (m): 30

Where it is found

A canopy tree in seasonally flooded or dry limestone woodland. Moist or wet forest, ascending to about 1,000 metres but mostly at 300 metres or less in Guatemala.

S. America - Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana; C. America - Panama to Mexico.

Conservation Status: This taxon has not yet been assessed

Countries/locations it is found in

Asia, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Caribbean, Central America, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guiana, Guianas, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, North America, Pacific, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, South America*, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, USA, Venezuela, West Indies.

How it is used

Food

Rating: 3

Seed - raw or cooked. The raw seed has some bitterness, whilst the roasted seed develops a nutty, cacao-like flavour. An agreeable and nourishing food with a flavour similar to hazel nuts. The seed can also be boiled and mashed like potatoes, or made into juice and marmalade. The ground up seeds can be made into a mash to mix with corn when making tortillas. When steeped in water, the seeds make a coffee-like beverage. The seed is the size of a small chestnut. The seed is produced inside a yellow fruit about 25mm in diameter - each fruit contains one seed. The yellow or orange fruit has a sweet, thin edible flesh surrounding the large seed. A sweet, agreeable flavour. The globose fruit is 15 - 20mm in diameter. The milky latex, which flows freely when the trunk is cut, resembles cream and when diluted with water is said to afford a substitute for cow's milk. The latex is also mixed with chicle.

Seed: includes nuts, cereals, peas and beans.

Coffee: the various substitutes that can be used instead of coffee.

Drink: not including plant saps, tea or coffee substitutes.

Gum: can be chewed as a chewing gum or can often be used as a sweetener or thickening agent in foods.

Milk: made from plants, that is.

Medicine

Rating: 2

There is a belief in Yucatan that if the seeds are eaten by nursing women the flow of milk is increased. The latex is mixed with water, warmed and drunk as a treatment for dry coughs and for itchy sore throat. The latex is applied directly on sores in the mouth and other parts of the body for healing.

Antitussive: Prevents or relieves coughing.

Mouthwash: Treats problems such as mouth ulcers.

Other

Rating: 3

Design: An imposing tree with broad, dense, deep green crown and narrow buttresses trunk; good for: Large shade tree. Street Tree. Public open space. Xerophytic. Bee nectar. A good forage plant for domestic animals. Leaves and branches cut for fodder for horses and mules. Often the only fodder available during the dry season. Agroforestry Uses: The tree provides good shade and reduces the impact of strong winds. Other Uses: A latex is obtained from the stems. It is sometimes mixed with chicle to make chewing gum. The heartwood is a yellowish to dark brown, tinged with red around knots and other defects; the thick band of sapwood is yellowish to nearly white. The texture is fine to medium; grain is straight to irregular and shallowly interlocked; luster is low; without distinctive odour or taste. The wood is hard, heavy, very strong, tough, not very durable, being particularly vulnerable to insect attack. Because of its high density and silica content, the wood requires appropriate tools, when it becomes easy to moderately difficult to work, taking a good polish. It is used for general construction, carpentry, flooring, furniture, cabinet making etc.

Fodder: Food given to the animals (including plants cut and carried to them) rather than forage for themselves.

Furniture: A few miscellaneous uses that do not fit easily into other headings.

Gum: Gums have a wide range of uses, especially as stabilizers, emulsifiers, thickening agents, adhesives etc.

Latex: A source of rubber.

Shelterbelt: Wind resistant plants than can be grown to provide shelter in the garden etc.

Wood: A list of the trees and shrubs that are noted for having useful wood.

Fodder: Bank: Fodder banks are plantings of high-quality fodder species. Their goal is to maintain healthy productive animals. They can be utilized all year, but are designed to bridge the forage scarcity of annual dry seasons. Fodder bank plants are usually trees or shrubs, and often legumes. The relatively deep roots of these woody perennials allow them to reach soil nutrients and moisture not available to grasses and herbaceous plants.

Industrial Crop: Hydrocarbon: Materials, chemicals and energy include bioplastics, rubber, biomass products gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, butane, propane, biogas. Plants are usually resprouting plants and saps.

Management: Coppice: Cut to the ground repeatedly - resprouting vigorously. Non-destructive management systems maintaining the soil organic carbon.

Management: Standard: Plants grow to their standard height. Harvest fruit, seeds, or other products. Non-Destructive management systems.

Regional Crop: These crops have been domesticated and cultivated regionally but have not been adopted elsewhere and are typically not traded globally, Examples in this broad category include perennial cottons and many nuts and staple fruits.

Staple Crop: Balanced carb: (0-15 percent protein, 0-15 percent oil, with at least one over 5 percent). The carbohydrates are from either starch or sugar. Annuals include maize, wheat, rice, and potato. Perennials include chestnuts, carob, perennial fruits, nuts, cereals, pseudocereals, woody pods, and acorns.

Staple Crop: Protein: (16+ percent protein, 0-15 percent oil). Annuals include beans, chickpeas, lentils, cowpeas, and pigeon peas. Perennials include perennial beans, nuts, leaf protein concentrates, and edible milks.

Fodder: Bank: Fodder banks are plantings of high-quality fodder species. Their goal is to maintain healthy productive animals. They can be utilized all year, but are designed to bridge the forage scarcity of annual dry seasons. Fodder bank plants are usually trees or shrubs, and often legumes. The relatively deep roots of these woody perennials allow them to reach soil nutrients and moisture not available to grasses and herbaceous plants.

Industrial Crop: Hydrocarbon: Materials, chemicals and energy include bioplastics, rubber, biomass products gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, butane, propane, biogas. Plants are usually resprouting plants and saps.

Management: Coppice: Cut to the ground repeatedly - resprouting vigorously. Non-destructive management systems maintaining the soil organic carbon.

Management: Standard: Plants grow to their standard height. Harvest fruit, seeds, or other products. Non-Destructive management systems.

Regional Crop: These crops have been domesticated and cultivated regionally but have not been adopted elsewhere and are typically not traded globally, Examples in this broad category include perennial cottons and many nuts and staple fruits.

Staple Crop: Balanced carb: (0-15 percent protein, 0-15 percent oil, with at least one over 5 percent). The carbohydrates are from either starch or sugar. Annuals include maize, wheat, rice, and potato. Perennials include chestnuts, carob, perennial fruits, nuts, cereals, pseudocereals, woody pods, and acorns.

Staple Crop: Protein: (16+ percent protein, 0-15 percent oil). Annuals include beans, chickpeas, lentils, cowpeas, and pigeon peas. Perennials include perennial beans, nuts, leaf protein concentrates, and edible milks.

Carbon Farming: Plants that can be a critical part of the solution to climate problems. The Carbon Farming Solution - Eric Toensmeier.

Coppice: A traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down.

Food Forest: Plants for Edible Forest Gardens and Food Forests.

How it is grown

The plant grows naturally lowland areas of hot, humid, tropical climates with a seasonal dry period. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 18 - 25c, but can tolerate 12 - 35c. When established, it can tolerate occasional, short-lived, light frosts. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 600 - 4,000mm, but tolerates 500 - 5,000mm. Of easy culture, it grows best in a humus-rich, fertile, moisture-retentive soil in full sun or light shade. Very tolerant of shallow, calcareous soils. Established plants are very drought tolerant and also tolerate seasonal flooding. Plants can escape from cultivation and become weedy in some tropical areas. Trees can commence producing fruit in 5 - 6 years from seed. Plants flower intermittently throughout the year and can produce two or three harvests.

Propagating it: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe. Greenwood cuttings.

Best place to grow:

Habit: Tree

Hardiness: 10-12

Growth: Medium

Soil: Light (sandy), medium, heavy (clay)

Shade: Semi-shade, no shade

Moisture: Moist

Things to keep in mind

Plants can escape from cultivation and become weedy in some tropical areas

Its other names

Local names

Bread nut, Snakewood, Ramon, Ojoche, Ujushte, Ramon tree, Breadnut, Janita, Muiratinga, Guamaro, Berba, Cacique, Nuez de pan

Synonyms

Alicastrum brownie Kuntze Brosimum bernadetteae Woodson Brosimum columbianum S.F.Blake Brosimum gentlei Lundell Brosimum latifolium Standl. Brosimum terrabanum Pittier Brosimum uleanum Mildbr. Ficus faginea Kunth & C.D.Bouche Helicostylis bolivarensis Pittier Helicostylis latifolia Pittier Helicostylis ojoche K. Schum. ex Pittier Piratinera alicastrum (Sw.) Baill. Urostigma fagineum (Kunth & C.D.Bouche) Miq.