Breadfruit

It was intended that actual breadfruit plants would be part of the Bounty exhibition at APT. As only one eight foot high plant was available at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and would be very hard to move in its pot, it was decided to find another source of breadfruit.

This task was organised by Cuillin Bantock, an artist in the exhibition and a Director of APT. Cuillin contacted Dr. Diane Ragone, the Director of the Breadfruit Institute at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kalaheo, Kauai, Hawaii http://ntbg.org/breadfruit/
who agreed to send some plants.

Six breadfruit plants were selected to be shipped by air to London from Hawaii; the longest flight ever taken by breadfruit plants.

To ship plants from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland they had to be bare-rooted and a plant import permit from the authorities in the UK was needed. Inspection and a phytosanitary permit from USDA were also required. Shipping was done by FedEx.

The plants were kindly offered as a gift to the exhibition by the Breadfruit Institute.

When the plants arrived they were re-soiled in pots but the shock of travel caused all the leaves to fall off. This was not unexpected but because of this the plants were not put in the show. They will however live on long after it. Once re-stabled and the leaves return the breadfruit plants will be donated to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew http://www.kew.org/ and to the Eden Project http://www.edenproject.com/.

Leaves returning to the breadfruit plants. Life springs eternal.



Today (26 Oct 2007) while walking by a Jamaican green grocer on Broadway in Hackney, what did I see but these breadfruits. They probably come from Jamaica and are direct descendants of the breadfruit, Bligh eventually did get to the West Indies aboard HMS Providence.