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Excerpts from Jim Conrad's
Naturalist Newsletter
from the January 7, 2018 Newsletter issued from Rancho Regenesis in the woods ±4kms west of Ek Balam Ruins; elevation ~40m (~130 ft), N20.876°, W88.170°; north-central Yucatán, MÉXICO
JACKFRUIT SEEDLINGS
At Genesis Eco-lodge often they serve portions of cubed Jackfruit fruit, the fruits being bought in local stores. Jackfruit fruits are big things, reaching 2ft long (60cm) and weighing up to 40 pounds (18kg). They look a lot like Breadfruit and Breadnut fruits. Some young Breadnut fruits are shown growing on a tree in Chiapas at www.backyardnature.net/chiapas/artocarp.htm
The Breadfruit, Breadnut and Jackfruit species all belong to the same Fig-Family genus, Artocarpus. it's ARTOCARPUS HETEROPHYLLUS. In Chiapas I've seen many Breadnut trees planted but never any Jackfruit, so when the lodge's owner, Lee, gave me some seeds to plant, I thought that maybe they were really Breadnut seeds.
However, I planted them -- the seeds had been recently removed from a big fruit that was eaten on the spot -- got an excellent germination, and now the seedlings bear two or three leaves, and the leaves look more like Jackfruit than Breadnut leaves. Below, you can see a seedling in a pot.
Getting the seeds to germinate was very easy, but now the seedlings' leaves seem to be infected with a kind of brown spotting, probably of fungal origin, so we'll see how that develops. I'm hoping that a future entry here will document the plants' first flowers and fruits.