ARTOCARPA'CE.E, A rtocarpads, the Bread-Fruit Tribe, a natural order of plants nearly related to Urticacea (the Nettle Tribe), from which it is so difficult to separate them by any precise character that there are many who consider them, nothing more then a section of Urticacetr.
\nether a distinct order or a section only of Crticacer, the A tiocarracem arc known by having flowers with a very imperfectly formed calyx, no corolla, leaves with conspicuous stipules, a rough foliage, and an acrid milky juice, which often contains Caoutehouc, or Indian Rubber, in abundance; the flowers are collected into round heads, and the ovules are suspended singly from the upper part of the solitary cavity of the ovarium. They are distinguished from the Urticecere by the position of their ovules, the manner in which their flowers are arranged, and by their yielding a milky juice; the juice of Crticacem being watery.
The species are all found in the warmer parts of the world, and many of them are natives of the tropics only. Their milk, which is always acrid, renders some of them intensely poisonous, ns the Open Tree of Javn [ANTIARis], and certain Indian species of Fig [Ficus] ; nevertheless, if the milk is naturally absent from any pruticular part of an Artocarpad that part becomes eatable and even wholesome. Thus the fruit of the cultivated fig, up to a short period before its maturity, remains milky, and at that time it would prove exceedingly unwholesome; but when ripe themilk disappears, is replaced by sugar, and the fruit becomes, as we all know, extremely wholesome. The same explanation is probably applicable to the case of the Bread Fruit, which forms an article of food with the South Sea Islanders.
[AnrocAitrus.] A species of Ant iaris produces sacks, hence it is called Sack-Tree. The following is the process by which these sacks are obtained. " A branch is cut corresponding to the length and diameter of the sack wanted. It is soaked a little, and then beaten with clubs till the fibre separates from the wood. This done, the sack formed of the bark is turned inside out, and pulled down till the wood is sawed, with the exception of a small piece left to form the bottom of the sack." These sacks are in general use in the West Indies, and specimens may be seen in the Museum of the Gardens at Kew. The Water-Vine (Phytocrene) belongs to this order, the sap and porous wood of which when cut discharges a quantity of pure water, which is drunk by the natives of the province of Martaban, where it grows. The seeds of many of the species are eaten in the countries where they grow.
To those unacquainted with botany it may appear strange that the Nettleand the Fig are both arranged in the same order. If, however, we investigate the matter carefully, we shall find that in the structure of the stem, leaves, stipules, calyx, stamens, and fruit, these two plants are so like each other that it is impossible to discover more than one solitary essential character, namely that of the position of the young seeds, by which they can be distinguished ; and that the differences which meet the unpractised eye are entirely connected with the size and manner in which the flowers are arranged.