A branch of the bread-fruit tree with th…

Rare engraving from the official British Admiralty sanctioned edition of the accounts of Cook’s first voyage. All other later copies made of this image by other publishers were unauthorised, usually smaller and inferior in quality

Famous engraving of the breadfruit provided by the Tahitians at Matavia Bay (previously named by Wallis as Port Royal) on 13th April 1769.

After Cook’s return from Tahiti in the Endeavour, Joseph Banks and Solander the botanist, reported on the Bread fruit as a food source. This prompted colonial administrators and plantation owners to call for the introduction of the plant to the British colonies in the West Indies. Joseph Banks, as President of The Royal Society, offered a cash prize and a medal to the person who successfully introduced the plant. The first attempt by Blight led to the infamous ‘mutiny on the Bounty.’ On his second attempt, Bligh won the Royal Society medal.

Common name: Bread fruit
Modern binomial name: Artocarpus altilis
First described: 1769 Parkinson named the species Sitodium altile, three years later, Johann Reinhold Forster and Georg Forster published a description of the species using the name Artocarpus communis.
Distribution: Endemic to the Pacific but now found in over 90 countries.

From Hawkesworth,  An Account of the Voyages Undertaken By the Order of His Majesty, for Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere.