Ficus dammaropsis

Ficus dammaropsis
Ficus dammaropsis showing large synconium (flower)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Moraceae
Genus:	Ficus
Species:	F. dammaropsis
Binomial name
Ficus dammaropsis Diels
Synonyms
Dammaropsis kingiana

Ficus dammaropsis, kapiak (Tok Pisin), or highland breadfruit (English), is tropical fig tree with huge pleated leaves 60 cm across. It is native to the highlands and highlands fringe of New Guinea. It generally grows at altitudes of between 800 and 2750 metres; its extreme range is from sea level to 2820 m. Its fruit is edible but rarely eaten except as an emergency food (Bourke nd:4, 11). The young leaves are pickled or cooked and eaten as a vegetable with pig meat (Kambuou 1996:22).

Cultivation

A young highland breadfruit, centre, in Whangarei, New Zealand

With its bold tropical leaves and relative tolerance of cold, F. dammaropsis is in demand as an ornamental tree in frost-free climates.

References

• R. Michael Bourke (nd). "Indigenous fruit in Papua New Guinea" (PDF). Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. The Australian National University. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
• R.N. Kambuou (1996). "Papua New Guinea: Country Report" (PDF). FAO International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources, (Leipzig,1996). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 2008-06-19.