https://www.scimonth.com.tw/archives/6368
So according to a new study, the very common tree in Taiwan, often referred to as breadfruit in both English and Mandarin, is not the same breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) that you would find in Polynesia.
The researcher went on a trip to Hawaii, and observed that the fruit the locals refer to as Ulu, which means head, and is cognate with the Paiwan word for head, qulu, the Kavalan word uRu and more, and its tree, look a bit different from the breatfruit trees in Taiwan.
Your typical Polynesian breadfruit trees, Artocarpus altilis, like jackfruit (A.heterophyllus), which people in Taiwan refer to as Puoluomi, both belong to the Artocarpus genus.
However, Taiwan’s breadfruit tree, while still in the same genus, is evolutionary speaking quite distant from the Polynesian breadfruit tree.
Polynesian breadfruit tree (Artocarpus altilis)
Taiwan’s “breadfruit” tree (Artocarpus treculianus)
In the past, people attributed the introduction of the breadfruit tree to Taiwan to late Qing rule (late 1800s). The first person to ever document the breadfruit tree in Taiwan was actually George Mackay, who misidentified it as the Polynesian breadfruit tree, and no one ever bothered to revisit his classification. In the diary of George Mackay, 1871-1901, Rev. Mackay documented that on Sep 6, 1890, he saw a tree referred to as Pat-chi-lút, in the Pangcah Amisay group’s village of Cikasuan (present day 七腳川 Hualien), and Mackay wrote down “Bread fruit tree (Artocarpus incisa)” and “This fruit is used by the aborigines exclusively.”
Genetic analysis points to that Taiwan’s breadfruit tree was introduced to Taiwan from Ponso no Tao (Lanyu), as there are two branches of Cipoho (Lanyu breadfruit trees), and just one branch of Pacilo (Taiwan breadfruit tree). How these two species are related to A. treculianus found in the Philippines has not yet been determined. So we haven’t figured out if Taiwan’s breadfruit tree was native to Ponso no Tao and then introduced to Taiwan, or was it brought over from the Philippines via Ponso no Tao.
The root plates of Cipoho, which is a word for these “breadfruit trees” shared by the Tao people and the Ivatan people of the Bantanes, was used by these cultures to craft their boats. So it is very likely the tree itself was significant to the Austronesian expansion.
