Treculia africana

The common name “African breadfruit” is derived from its large fruit and edible seeds, which can be boiled and eaten as a starch in the same way as actual breadfruit (several species of the genus Artocarpus). The genus name Treculia is after AUGUSTE TRÉCUL, a nineteenth century French botanist. Trec...

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Hauptverfasser: Onyekwelu, Jonathan C., Stimm, Bernd
Format: Reference Entry
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:The common name “African breadfruit” is derived from its large fruit and edible seeds, which can be boiled and eaten as a starch in the same way as actual breadfruit (several species of the genus Artocarpus). The genus name Treculia is after AUGUSTE TRÉCUL, a nineteenth century French botanist. Treculia africana is a large evergreen tree species found in tropical parts of Africa and is one of the forest tree species that are adjudged to be of immense domestic importance to both rural and urban dwellers. It provides assortment of food necessary for nutritional diversity and survival especially during the “hungry season” (i.e. between November and April), when farm crops are planted. The economic and nutritional importance of African breadfruit is further underscored by its high frequency of occurrence in home gardens and agro‐forestry farmlands. Due to the immense economic importance of T. africana, coupled with the growing local and regional market potentials, it has been under intense exploitation pressure, which has been largely indiscriminate thus resulting in its stocks diminishing at an alarming rate. Currently, T. africana is among the highly endangered and scarce food tree species in Nigeria. In Tanzania, the availability of the species in the forests is very low and T. africana is also reported to have almost disappeared in some areas of Ghana.
DOI:10.1002/9783527678518.ehg2008020