Folk nomenclature and traditional knowledge of breadfruit [Artocarpus altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg] diversity in four Anglophone Caribbean countries

The Anglophone Caribbean consists mostly of islands in the Greater and Lesser Antilles in a chain located southeast of North America and includes mainland countries in eastern Central America and north-western South America, all wholly or partially washed by the Caribbean Sea. A survey was conducted in four countries of the Anglophone Caribbean namely, Jamaica in the Greater Antilles and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago in the Lesser Antilles (Fig. 1). In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the survey was conducted only on the main island of St. Vincent., while data from the two islands of St. Kitts and Nevis were combined because of the small sample size from both islands, and Trinidad and Tobago were treated as two separate islands. These countries were selected based on accessibility to key informants, historical associations with breadfruit importation to the Caribbean and documentation of breadfruit production activities. They also represent different sub-regions within the wider Caribbean.

Between 2012 and 2015, ethnobotanical information was collected among 170 respondents in the four countries (Fig. 1). For each country, an initial list of potential respondents with their locations and telephone numbers was prepared consisting of breadfruit tree owners who were either farmers or homeowners or both, and other persons knowledgeable about breadfruit who were already known to at least one of the researchers from previous surveys [7, 8, 13] as in St. Vincent, Jamaica, and Trinidad. A farm, in the context of these countries, is an area of land cultivated by an individual or a family. Persons knowledgeable about breadfruit were mainly extension officers of the Ministry or Department of Agriculture who lived or worked in the parishes or counties of the country, or elderly consumers. These lists were updated by contacting the potential respondents directly by telephone to confirm their availability and willingness to participate in an interview and to request their assistance in identifying other potential respondents. Therefore, those who identified other potential respondents were also informants. Other informants were extension officers who had not been involved in previous surveys but knew breadfruit tree owners who were not already on the list. The surveys began with persons who had agreed to participate in the interviews at a mutually convenient date and time. The list continued to be updated using the snowball sampling technique as other informants were encountered, for example, shopkeepers or residents in a district who did not know about breadfruit varieties themselves but suggested the names of persons knowledgeable about breadfruit or those who owned trees. Where possible, the extension officer or other informant who was known to the respondent, introduced the researcher to the respondent. The survey also incorporated the experiences of all researchers who grew up in the region and were able to use their experience to identify tree owners and persons knowledgeable about breadfruit. Before all interviews, the potential respondents were advised about the affiliation of the researchers, the nature of the information that was being requested, the purpose for which it was being collected and assurance that their names and contact information would not be shared or published. Their willingness to participate was confirmed again. No inducement or payment was made for respondent participation.

Interviews were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire, administered by the researchers, and consisted of the following open-ended questions:

The responses were recorded as summarized written notes. Where trees were accessible, photographs were taken, and leaf, flower and fruit samples were collected and placed in labelled bags for measurement within five hours. Interviews in a district, county or parish were discontinued when no other respondents were available or could add no new information.

Descriptive and inferential statistical data analyses were carried out using IBM SPSS Version 21 [24]. Descriptive statistical methods included frequencies, percentages, and means. Inferential statistical methods included Chi-square test of association. The information on varietal names and uses were summarized in tables for each country or island.

Table 1 provides a summary of the number and demographics of respondents in the survey. One hundred and seventy respondents were interviewed throughout the study. Respondents from Jamaica and Trinidad comprised half of the respondents (26% and 24%, respectively). Most were male (58%). Most respondents were from rural areas (54%) compared with those from semi-urban (31%) and urban areas (15%).

Based on respondents’ responses in this survey, breadfruit was produced in four types of production systems. These were border plantings, home gardens, mixed cropping and pure stands or monoculture orchard. Border plantings, characterized as single or scattered trees planted along the boundaries of farms and home gardens (35%), and trees in home gardens (34%) represented the two most common breadfruit production systems. This was followed by mixed cropping with other perennial or annual crops (29%) (Table 2). Pure stand breadfruit orchards, though rare (2%), were observed in two locations in Jamaica and one location in Trinidad. There was no significant association (χ² = 15.862, df = 12, p = 0.198) in the distribution of production systems among countries/islands.

Breadfruit cultivation for food, sharing with relatives, friends, and neighbors or for household sales was important in the region. Respondents cultivated breadfruit in their home gardens or farms for home use or sharing with relatives, friends, and neighbors only (20%), for sale only (12.4%) or both home use or sharing with relatives, friends, and neighbors and sale (67.6%) (Fig. 2). Home use and individual sales were the most frequent reasons for cultivation and did not differ significantly among the islands (χ² = 6.26, df = 8, p = 0.618).

In the present study, 38 vernacular names of breadfruit were reported by respondents among the countries surveyed. The largest number of cultivar names were recorded in St. Vincent (23), followed by Jamaica (15), Tobago (4), Trinidad (2) and St. Kitts and Nevis (2). Four of these cultivar names were shared among islands, while several names were used on only one island (Table 3). Twenty-one of the 23 cultivar names identified in St. Vincent were recorded only on that island. Similarly, 13 of the 15 vernacular names recorded for Jamaica were not shared with any other island in the survey. One unique vernacular name, ‘Chouf chouf’, was recorded for Tobago. All cultivar names used in Trinidad and St. Kitts were either shared with other islands or between those two islands.

When vernacular names recorded in this survey were combined with those reported in earlier studies, a total of 51 different names were known throughout the Caribbean (Table 3). Nine unique vernacular names were recorded for the first time in this survey. These included ‘Brambram,’ ‘Couscous,’ ‘Finey’ and ‘Monkey breadfruit’ from Jamaica, ‘Mary Grace,’ Hard Nature,’ ‘Red Bread,’ and ‘Smooth Skin’ from St. Vincent and ‘Chouf chouf’ from Tobago (Table 3).

Respondents who were knowledgeable of breadfruit diversity used different approaches to identify, name, and then classify breadfruit types or cultivars. For identification, respondents in this survey used 16 descriptors related to plant morphological characteristics (skin texture, fruit size, fruit shape, skin color, pulp color, leaf shape) and agronomic characteristics (time of bearing, time to maturity) (Table 4). Respondents perceived a range of breadfruit types, each having distinct features, and they used a combination of descriptors to identify breadfruit types or cultivars. The most frequently mentioned descriptor used for the identification of breadfruit was pulp color (77%), followed by skin texture (58%), fruit size (30%) and leaf shape (25%) (Table 4).

The pulp color states identified were white, cream, light yellow and yellow. The yellow pulp color of the cultivar ‘Yellow’/’Yellow Heart’ is often used as a benchmark for comparison with other cultivars. For example, a respondent referring to the pulp color of ‘Timor’ in Jamaica suggested that the pulp was not as yellow as ‘Yellow Heart.’ This was interpreted to mean that ‘Timor’ had a light-yellow pulp. Skin texture is also an important feature in cultivar identification and naming. Cultivars such as ‘Macca’ in Jamaica, ‘Kashee Bread in ‘St. Vincent’ and ‘Chouf chouf’ in Tobago were all identified first by their very rough skin. The names given to these cultivars are also based on their rough to spiky skin.

Leaf shape was also used to describe cultivars, and in some cases, it was the first descriptor used for those with distinct leaves (Fig. 3). For example, cultivars ‘Cassava’ in Jamaica and ‘Captain Bligh’ in St. Vincent were readily identified by their leaves, which had very deep sinuses (Fig. 3). In Jamaica, the names ‘Timor’ and ‘St. Kitts’ refer to the same cultivar, but both names were never used in the same location. However, when asked to give key identifying characteristics, respondents who used those names always gave the description for a cultivar with an unusual entire or dentate margin on the upper one-third of the leaf.

Many of the vernacular names encountered in this survey were often descriptive and reflected variation in fruit morphology, cooking and eating-quality and association with people, places, and things (Table 5). Some of these names were passed down from generation to generation and used by respondents without an understanding of their meaning. However, there were other names for which respondents perceived meaning. Vernacular names such as ‘Timor,’ ‘St. Kitts’ and ‘England’ were all based on the names of places (Table 5). Some vernacular names were based on people associated with the specific cultivar or type. For example, the vernacular name ‘Captain Bligh’ was based on the name of the sea captain who introduced breadfruit to the Anglophone Caribbean. Vernacular names such as ‘Yellow Heart,’ ‘Yellow,’ ‘Creole,’ and ‘Common’ appear to describe the same cultivar. ‘Yellow Heart’ was recorded in Jamaica, ‘Yellow’ was recorded in Trinidad, Tobago, and St. Kitts, while ‘Creole’ and ‘Common’ were both recorded for St. Vincent. Similarly, the vernacular names ‘Cassava’ and ‘Captain Bligh’, appeared to describe the same cultivar based on morphological features. Even within the same island or country, different vernacular names were used to describe cultivars that appeared to be identical. In Jamaica, the vernacular names ‘Timor’ and St. ‘Kitts’ were used for the same cultivar, which is usually distinguished from other cultivars as having an unusual leaf shape.

Based on respondents in this survey, three criteria were used to classify breadfruit cultivars in the surveyed countries. These were eating-quality, the most suitable method of preparation and ease of cooking (Table 6). Moreover, three types of breadfruit were distinguished based on eating-quality, namely, ‘excellent’, ‘good’ and ‘poor’ (Table 6). Cultivars or types with excellent eating-quality usually had pulp that are yellow, soft, smooth texture when cooked and are often described as having a great mouth-feel. Cultivars with good eating-quality generally have cream to light yellow pulp and are described as having good mouth-feel and flavor. Poor eating-quality among breadfruit means firm pulp that is dry and has poor flavor. These cultivars generally have white to cream-colored pulp. Words such as ‘stringy,’ ‘barky’ and ‘strany’ were often used to describe the mouth-feel of those cultivars considered to have poor eating quality.

In St. Vincent and Jamaica, breadfruit cultivars were distinguished on the basis of the most suitable method of preparation, roasting or boiling. This did not mean that cultivars could not be prepared using both methods and/or other methods of preparation. However, both roasting and boiling were popular in those countries, with roasting being more favored. Cultivars that were more suitable for roasting tended to roast easily and had great flavor and eating-quality. Cultivars that generally did not roast easily or did not have great flavor when roasted were better for boiling. After classifying cultivars based on the most suitable method of preparation, respondents further classified cultivars based on ease of cooking—easy or hard. Cultivars that were easy to roast or boil took less time than those that were hard to cook. This method of classification also contributed to cultivar names such as ‘Easy Roast,’ ‘Hard Nature’ and ‘Hard to Roast.’