Brosimum alicastrum

Brosimum alicastrum, commonly known as breadnut, Maya nut or ramon, and many others, is a tree species in the family Moraceae of flowering plants, whose other genera include figs and mulberries. Two subspecies are commonly recognized: B. a. alicastrum B. a. bolivarense (Pittier) C.C.Berg

Description

A large evergreen tree. It grows to 25-30 m high. It has a dense wide crown of leaves. It has narrow buttresses. The bark is grey. The leaves are simple and dark green. They are 17 cm long by 6 cm wide. There can be teeth along the edge and often the edge is wavy. The flowers are in a round head. Most are male with a female flowers in the centre. The fruit is small, round and golden orange. The tree has small roundish yellow or brown seeds about 2 cm across. They occur singly or sometimes two in a thin paper-like shell. It has a smooth but granular surface.

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Fruit Seed Edible Uses: Coffee Drink Gum Milk Seed - raw or cooked. The raw seed has some bitterness, whilst the roasted seed develops a nutty, cacao-like flavour. An agreeable and nourishing food with a flavour similar to hazel nuts. The seed can also be boiled and mashed like potatoes, or made into juice and marmalade. The ground up seeds can be made into a mash to mix with corn when making tortillas. When steeped in water, the seeds make a coffee-like beverage. The seed is the size of a small chestnut. The seed is produced inside a yellow fruit about 25mm in diameter - each fruit contains one seed. The yellow or orange fruit has a sweet, thin edible flesh surrounding the large seed. A sweet, agreeable flavour. The globose fruit is 15 - 20mm in diameter. The milky latex, which flows freely when the trunk is cut, resembles cream and when diluted with water is said to afford a substitute for cow's milk. The latex is also mixed with chicle.

Traditional Uses

The chestnut like seeds are eaten but only after cooking by roasting or boiling. They are also ground and mixed with corn in tortillas. They are made into a drink with milk and sugar. The seeds are also used for a coffee like drink. The latex from the tree is used as a drink. The young shoots and leaves are edible. The fruit are also ground and then made into flat bread. They are also boiled and eaten with fish.

Medicinal Uses

Antitussive Mouthwash There is a belief in Yucatan that if the seeds are eaten by nursing women the flow of milk is increased. The latex is mixed with water, warmed and drunk as a treatment for dry coughs and for itchy sore throat. The latex is applied directly on sores in the mouth and other parts of the body for healing.

Distribution

A tropical plant. It is native to Central America. It is suited to tropical lowland areas. It is best in a humid climate with a seasonal dry period. It is drought resistant. It can grow on shallow limestone soils. It can tolerate occasional flooding. In Costa Rica it grows to 1,000 m altitude.

Where It Grows

Amazon, Asia, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Caribbean, Central America*, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guiana, Guianas, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, North America*, Pacific, Panama, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Peru, South America*, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, USA, Venezuela, West Indies,

Cultivation

The plant grows naturally lowland areas of hot, humid, tropical climates with a seasonal dry period. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 18 - 25c, but can tolerate 12 - 35c. When established, it can tolerate occasional, short-lived, light frosts. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 600 - 4,000mm, but tolerates 500 - 5,000mm. Of easy culture, it grows best in a humus-rich, fertile, moisture-retentive soil in full sun or light shade. Very tolerant of shallow, calcareous soils. Established plants are very drought tolerant and also tolerate seasonal flooding. Plants can escape from cultivation and become weedy in some tropical areas. Trees can commence producing fruit in 5 - 6 years from seed. Plants flower intermittently throughout the year and can produce two or three harvests.

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe. Greenwood cuttings.

Other Uses

Fodder Furniture Gum Latex Shelterbelt Wood Design: An imposing tree with broad, dense, deep green crown and narrow buttresses trunk; good for: Large shade tree. Street Tree. Public open space. Xerophytic. Bee nectar. A good forage plant for domestic animals. Leaves and branches cut for fodder for horses and mules. Often the only fodder available during the dry season. Agroforestry Uses: The tree provides good shade and reduces the impact of strong winds. Other Uses: A latex is obtained from the stems. It is sometimes mixed with chicle to make chewing gum. The heartwood is a yellowish to dark brown, tinged with red around knots and other defects; the thick band of sapwood is yellowish to nearly white. The texture is fine to medium; grain is straight to irregular and shallowly interlocked; luster is low; without distinctive odour or taste. The wood is hard, heavy, very strong, tough, not very durable, being particularly vulnerable to insect attack. Because of its high density and silica content, the wood requires appropriate tools, when it becomes easy to moderately difficult to work, taking a good polish. It is used for general construction,carpentry, flooring, furniture, cabinet making etc. Special Uses Carbon Farming Coppice Food Forest

Production

A fast growing tree. It produces fruit is 5-6 years. There are 2 or 3 fruiting periods during the year.

Other Information

A South American tree established in the Lae Botanical Gardens in Papua New Guinea. It is not known if it is used for food in Papua New Guinea.

Notes

There are 6 Brosimum species in Costa Rica.

Nutrition

Synonyms

Also Known As

A-agi, Apoma, Apomo, Ash, Ax, Berba, Bere, Breadnut, Bread nut, Cacique, Campo, Capomo, Capono, Charo, Charo macho, Congona, Guaimaro, Hairi, Hichoso, Huje, Huji, Janita, Laredo, Lechoso, Manchinga, Maseco, Masica, Masicaran, Masico, Moho, Mojo, Mojote, Muiratinga, Nazareno, Nuez de pan, Ocoxiltli, Ojite, Ojoche, Ojuxte, Osh, Oxitle, Palo leche, Pisma, Ramon, Ramon tree, Samaritano, Sande, Snakewood, Talcoite, Tillo, Tsakaya, Ujushte, Ujuxte

References (43)

• Barwick, M., 2004, Tropical and Subtropical Trees. A Worldwide Encyclopedic Guide. Thames and Hudson p 60
• Bircher, A. G. & Bircher, W. H., 2000, Encyclopedia of Fruit Trees and Edible Flowering Plants in Egypt and the Subtropics. AUC Press. p 67
• Brechu-Franco, A. E., et al, 2021, Morphology, structure, and histochemistry of the inflorescences, fruit, and seed of the Ramón nut, Brosimum alicastrum Sw. subsp. alicastrum CC Berg (Moraceae). Brazilian Journal of Botany. Springer.
• Burkill, I.H., 1966, A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol 1 (A-H) p 372
• Chizmar Fernandez, C., et al, 2009, Plantas comestibles de Centroamerica. Instituto de Biodiversidad, Costa Rica. p 237

More from Moraceae

Bagassa guianensis

Cow-wood

Batocarpus orinocensis

Orinoco batocarpus

Brosimum acutifolium

Acuteleaf breadnuttree

Brosimum alicastrum subsp. bolivarense

Bolivar ramon breadnut tree

Brosimum guianense

Bere, Leopard-wood, Snakewood

Brosimum lactescens

Milky breadnut tree