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Cempedak (Artocarpus integer)

Cempedak or small jackfruit or Artocarpus champeden (Artocarpus integer) is a plant in Moraceae, monoecious, has a fruit shape, taste and fragrance similar to jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) and often interbred naturally in nature, but has a smaller tree size, smaller fruit and bigger leaves.

A. integer is a tree that is always green, height can reach 20 m even though most are only a dozen meters. Branches and shoots have fine, stiff, brownish hair. Leaves thin, rather stiff, 2.5-5x5-25 cm, flat-edged, inverted ovate with base of peg-shaped to rounded and pointed tip.

Dlium Cempedak (Artocarpus integer)

Petiole has a length of 1-3 cm. The ovary leaves are elongated, tapered, hairy, fall off easily and leave a ring mark on the twigs. Flowers appear on the armpits of the leaves, on large branches, on the main stem and on special short leafy shoots.

Male flowers are hump shaped, 1x3-5.5 cm, pale or yellowish green and stalk length 3-6 cm. The female flower head is elongated, embedded 1.5 mm deep in the pivot shaft and the free part is about 3 mm.

Syncarp cylindrical to round, 10-15x20-35 cm, greenish or yellowish to brownish, pyramid-like protrusions of soft spines that are dense or smooth with patches of facet. The fruit is an enlarged and thickened flower, yellowish white to orange, sweet and fragrant, soft-textured, slimy and somewhat fibrous. Spherical or elongated seeds and 2-3 cm long.

Cempedak is often found in lowland rain forests, primary and secondary forests. It grows at an altitude of about 1000 m above sea level, like areas with an unseasonably dry season, land with shallow ground water surface and withstand occasional flooding.



Fruit is eaten fresh or processed. Sometimes the fruit and seeds are given flour, sugar and salt to be fried as a snack. Seeds are fried or boiled or baked to be eaten with a mixture of a little salt. Young fruit for vegetables.

Good quality wood, strong and durable, so it is often used as building wood, home furnishings, boat materials and dyes for yellow. Fibrous bark is used as a rope and sap to trap birds.

Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Moraceae
Genus: Artocarpus
Species: A. integer

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