Jackfruit

*Artocarpus heterophyllus*

How to know it

A big tree with thick glossy leaves and enormous knobbly green fruit hanging directly from the trunk and main branches rather than from twigs. A single fruit can weigh more than a small child.

What it does

Eaten ripe as a sweet fruit and unripe as a meat substitute, which is why it now appears on menus far from where it grows. The seeds are boiled and eaten. The wood is used for furniture and for gamelan instruments.

Safety

The sticky white latex is extremely difficult to get off hands and clothing. Oil removes it, water does not. Warn everyone in advance.

Two things to do with children

Weigh one. Then work out how many children it takes to balance it. Real mass with a real object beats any textbook problem.

Ask why the fruit grows on the trunk instead of the branch tips. The answer, that a twig could not hold it, is arrived at quickly and correctly by most eight year olds.