Distribution     
Breadfruit is widely cultivated throughout the tropics. The seeded form is probably indigenous in New Guinea, possibly the Moluccas, western Melanesia, and Micronesia. Sterile seedless triploid cultivars are grown in many areas.

Habit
Large monoecious trees to 15 m high (reaching 26 m or more where indigenous), often becoming buttressed at the base, canopy dense and spreading, branchlets 5-15 mm thick, grayish appressed-pubescent, with profuse white latex.

Leaves
Leaves clustered at ends of branchlets, petiolate, leaf blades (adult) 30-90 cm long, 20-40 cm wide, usually pinnatifid from ½ blade width nearly to costa, the lobes 3-4(-5) on each side, separated by narrow to wide sinus, rarely irregularly dentate distally, subcoriaceous, glabrate above or both surfaces pubescent with long, soft to short, stiff scabrid hairs, hairs usually denser on costa and veins, petioles 2.5-8 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, pubescent or glabrate, often yellow when fresh; stipules 10-27 cm long, scabrid-pubescent with sandpaper-like texture, or smooth and glabrate.  

Flowers
Inflorescences solitary in the leaf axils. Staminate inflorescences at anthesis 7-45 cm long, 1.5-5 cm in diameter, cylindrical or sometimes oblong-ellipsoid, yellow becoming brown, the peduncle 2-3 cm long, 5-6 mm wide, densely packed with thousands of flowers attached to a spongy core, each with 1 stamen surrounded by a papery perianth. Pistillate inflorescences with 1500-2000 female flowers fused into an ellipsoid to subglobose or obovoid head 6-10 cm long, 4-6.5 cm in diam., with a spongy core, surface with polygonal areoles formed by fused flowers, bumpy or with raised, conical-pointed stigmatic areas; peduncle 6-9 cm long, stout, pubescent or glabrate.  

Fruit
Syncarp cylindrical to subglobose, usually 15-30 cm long, 9-20 cm in diameter, surface, slightly bumpy or spiny, with polygonal areoles 4-8 mm in diam., often finely puberulent, when ripe the skin is green to orange brown and flesh is cream colored to pale yellow, soft and fragrant, seedless or with scattered seeds; stout peduncle 2.5-12.5 cm long.  

Seeds
Seeds ovoid, 2-3 cm long, 1.7-2.7 cm wide, testa smooth, shiny brown, venose with darker stripes.