Artocarpus vrieseanus (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Artocarpus vrieseanus Miq.

Family: Moraceae

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: taas, matuka (Minahassa, Sulawesi).

Distribution

The Philippines (Mindanao), Sulawesi, Moluccas, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Japen, Salawati, Aru Island, Louisiade Archipelago, Solomon Islands.

Uses

Fruits are edible.

Observations

• Tree, up to 28 m tall, twigs 2-4 mm thick.
• Leaves obovate-oblong to ovate-elliptic, 7-30 cm × 3-15 cm, petiole 5-18 mm long.
• Fruit (syncarp) subglobose, up to 6 cm in diameter, yellow, with smooth velutinous surface.

Tree occurs in rain forest up to 2000 m altitude. A widely distributed species, with a wide range of variation. Four varieties have been distinguished:

• a) var. papillosus Jarrett: Solomon Islands (female head papillate at anthesis);
• b) var. refractus (Becc.) Jarrett: Mindanao, Moluccas, New Guinea, Salawati, Aru Islands, Louisiade Archipelago (female head smooth at anthesis);
• c) var. subsessilis Jarrett: New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands (leaves glabrous and without a prominent reticulum); and
• d) var. vrieseanus: Sulawesi, Moluccas, New Guinea (leaves thin coriaceous with slightly prominent reticulum beneath).

Selected sources

• Jarrett, F.M., 1959-1960. Studies in Artocarpus and allied genera 1-4. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University 40: 1-38, 113-56, 298-369; 41: 73-141, 320-341.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen, J. Jukema, L.P.A. Oyen, T.G. van Lingen