The Domestication of Fruit and Nut Tree Species in Vanuatu, Oceania - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 127

the wild, protected along pathways or around gardens and, at the same time,
truly cultivated around villages, so there is a continual gene flow from space to
space.
7.3 Indigenous Species with Economic Potential
Many indigenous fruits and nut species have been identified in Oceania.
However, only a few have an economic potential which can be readily
exploited. These include Artocarpus altilis , Barringtonia edulis , Barringtonia
novae-hiberniae , Barringtonia procera , Burckella fijiensis , Burckella obovata ,
Burckella spp. ( Cassidispermum megahilum ), Canarium harveyi , Canarium
indicum , Dracontomelon vitiense , Inocarpus fagifer , Morinda citrifolia , Spondias
cytherea , Syzygium malaccense and Terminalia catappa . In the following
sections we will discuss the major species.
7.3.1 Artocarpus altilis
Artocarpus altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg, commonly called breadfruit, is cultivated
throughout the Pacific generally by vegetative means except in Melanesia,
where sexual propagation is often used. The tree grows abundantly up to
600 m above sea level (m.a.s.l.). Mature trees may be found in secondary
forests, where they usually indicate a site of earlier settlement. The fruits are
cooked in various ways: grilled, braised in an oven, sometimes cut up and
boiled, often grated and cooked into a laplap (the national dish of Vanuatu,
consisting of an amylaceous pudding made of a graded root crop, bananas or
breadfruit). The mode of cooking of each cultivar depends on the texture of its
fruits (Walter, 1989). The seeds are sometimes eaten grilled or boiled. Young,
unrolled, leaves can also be eaten after cooking by steaming. More than 100
cultivars are known on the island of Malo in Vanuatu alone, whereas only ten
or so occur in Tonga.
In Melanesia the seeded forms are very abundant whereas the parthenocarpic,
seedless clones are rare; in Polynesia the situation is reversed. Seeded forms are
mostly diploids while seedless cultivars are triploids. There is tremendous genetic
diversity within diploids and the genetic base of triploids is extremely narrow
(Ragone, 1991, 1997). Using molecular markers, it has now been demonstrated
that two species ( A. camansi Blanco and A. mariennensis Trécul) and two different
events (vegetative propagation and introgressive hybridization) were involved in the
origin of breadfruit (Zerega et al ., 2006). In Vanuatu, each community recognizes
different cultivars according to the size of the tree, the shape of the leaves, the size
and the shape of the fruit, the presence or the absence of spines on the fruit and its
colour, the colour, texture and taste of the flesh, the number of seeds, and the
fruiting season. A few seedless forms (triploids) have been found in Vanuatu but the
country appears to be an important centre for diversity of breadfruit and a key
locality for its domestication. Farmers select genotypes found in the forest and plant
them around their houses using root cuttings.