Growing in popularity, breadfruit captivates Chef Gordon Ramsay in new series

Breadfruit, the storied, traditional tropical tree crop that has nourished people across the Pacific and beyond for centuries, continues to reach new populations as it grows in popularity and demand. The most recent high-profile breadfruit devotee: Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay who shares the joys of cooking and eating breadfruit in an upcoming episode of his new National Geographic series, Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted.

Culinary enthusiasts, gardeners, and anyone curious about breadfruit will enjoy watching Ramsay’s colorful encounter with breadfruit at the world’s largest and most diverse collection of breadfruit trees at the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s (NTBG) Kahanu Garden in the Hawaii’s Hana Coast episode airing on Sunday, August 11 (10/9c), on the National Geographic channel.

Uncharted Territory, Cooking with Breadfruit

After visiting NTBG’s 150-variety conservation collection at Kahanu Garden, Ramsay prepares a delicious breadfruit mash incorporated with venison to create a never-before-seen shepherd’s pie. Gordon Ramsay is among a growing number of chefs who are discovering why breadfruit is increasingly a favorite staple tree crop across the Pacific and in more than 90 countries and territories.

NTBG’s Breadfruit institute promotes the conservation, study, and use of breadfruit for food and reforestation, collaborating with partners, growers, and institutes to better understand and preserve this important tree and expand its use globally.

NTBG encourages people everywhere to learn more about breadfruit in a number of ways: Visit the Breadfruit Institute online and follow NTBG’s social media platforms; explore breadfruit recipes to learn about the outstanding nutritional benefits of this gluten-free starchy fruit; find out how to grow breadfruit successfully; and plan a visit to Kahanu Garden in Hāna, Maui, and McBryde Garden on Kauaʻi, to experience the beauty of the breadfruit collections and surrounding botanical gardens.

Breadfruit Institute

The Breadfruit Institute is a program of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (ntbg.org), a not-for-profit, non-governmental institution with nearly 2,000 acres of gardens and preserves in Hawai‘i and Florida. NTBG’s mission is to enrich life through discovery, scientific research, conservation, and education by perpetuating the survival of plants, ecosystems, and cultural knowledge of tropical regions. NTBG is supported primarily through donations and grants.

For more information on breadfruit, visit: breadfruit.org or email breadfruitinstitute@ntbg.org.

You’re invited to read our latest annual report and learn about our five garden locations in Hawai‘i and Florida as well as the preserves we manage and programs we operate.

From science, conservation, discovery, and education, to our stunning tropical living collections, our public outreach efforts, and critical work collecting rare and endangered plants and preserving plant DNA, NTBG continues to be a leader in tropical botany, rough terrain field exploration, scientific research, and education related to plant sciences.

Within this Annual Report you will also find the names of our many dedicated supporters and partners, from our deeply committed Board of Trustees, Council of Fellows and members to our generous donors and volunteers who all play a vital role in helping us fulfill our mission. This report also shares key financial data that reflects our organization’s fiscal activities and assets as well as updates on the Garden’s many activities, initiatives, and partnerships.

At National Tropical Botanical Garden we are wholly committed to saving plants whether it’s exploring steep cliffs, botanizing in rugged valleys, or collecting seeds in the forests of remote Pacific islands. NTBG also places great value on our partnerships, collaborations, and relationships with other like-minded organizations and the communities in which we live and work. In these pages you will find a summary of the educational workshops and classes, public tours and other activities we offer in our five gardens. Saving plants is at the very core of our mission and each of us recognizes the central role that plants play in our world. We recognize that no matter who we are or where we call home, each of us, like all other living creatures on Earth, needs plants. As a non-profit organization and the first and only botanical garden to have been chartered by the United States Congress, we rely on your enthusiastic support for helping us continue to save plants. With heartfelt appreciation, we offer you our gratitude.

View our Annual Reports on our NTBG Mission Page

Flashback to 1991 as NTBG Research Biologist Ken Wood dangles from ropes, exploring uncharted territory in Kauaʻi’s Kalalau Valley. Botanists had theorized that a yet-to-be-found Hibiscadelphus species could exist in the mesic forests of northwest Kauaʻi, so when Ken saw it, he knew immediately what is was: a new-species of Hibiscadelphus!

In the 1990s, NTBG botanists had developed their own distinctive roping technique to survey vertical cliffs, contributing to astounding results: the discovery of 11 new plant species in the Kalalau area alone. The 1991 Hibiscadelphus discovery would go on to be scientifically described in 1995 by NTBG’s (now) Science and Conservation Director Dr. David Lorence and Research Associate Dr. Warren Wagner who named the new species Hibiscadelphus woodii, in honor of its discoverer.

Early conservation attempts failed to take hold

Over the next two decades, NTBG staff gave their all to protect H. woodii, but attempts at grafting, seed propagation, and cross-pollination all failed. After three of the four known individuals perished in a rock slide in the late 1990s, the lone individual remained until it was found dead in 2011. It appeared the species had gone extinct. This exceptionally rare genus had lost six of seven documented species.

Fast forward five years to 2016 when, in search of a tool that would enable the survey of extreme cliff habitats, I established a drone program at NTBG. Limahuli Garden and Preserve proved to be a great training ground for this new technology. Early results were positive as we found new populations of highly endangered plants such as Euphorbia eleanoriae and Plantago princeps var. anomala, both of which were known from less than 50 individuals left in the wild.

As discussions on how to expand NTBG’s nascent drone program ensued, Ken and I bounced lists of potential target plants off of each other in weekly lunch meetings. In 2018, we decided to apply for a grant to the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund submitting a proposal aimed specifically at re-finding the “thought to be extinct” Hibiscadelphus woodii.

We selected H. woodii because the steep habitat had been nearly impossible to survey and drones were proving they could potentially unlock these otherwise inaccessible cliffs. Fortunately our application was accepted and we were able to upgrade our equipment before starting field work in the summer of 2018.

Perched on the edge

A particularly rainy summer was the first of many challenges we faced. Beginning our search where H. woodii had been previously found, we embarked on long, steep, downhill hikes to the edge of the Kalalau cliffs. On our first day in the field, misty conditions cut short our survey and damaged the drone controller. Three subsequent attempts were rained out and before long winter was looming ahead.

In January, Ken and I, accompanied his long-time field partner botanist Steve Perlman, hiked down to the edge of the Kalalau Valley where we resumed our search for H. woodii. After two 25-minute flights over our area of interest, nearly 100 photos revealed we were no closer to finding the plant.

Binoculars aided in the selection of a secondary survey area in an adjacent valley, much further down the precipitous slope.

Indicator species, such as the silvery Nototrichium sandwicense, hinted at an intact native cliff system, but as our third flight commenced, the wind picked up and a fine mist started falling. The quadcopter descended 400 feet into position, but the elements made plant identification difficult. I snapped as many photos as possible hoping to catch a glimpse of the small, yellow flower.

With deteriorating weather conditions, we decided to attempt one last flight covering the remaining section of sheer cliff face, 1,000 feet below where we stood. While the drone had revealed plant communities comprised mostly of natives, none of us were confident we had seen the Hibiscadelphus.

Back in the computer lab at NTBG’s Botanical Research Center, I started post-processing the drone’s images. I assumed the tree would be distinct and easily visible in a photograph, but as I meticulously reviewed each photo, my hopes faded.

Shot by shot, I studied the photos until in the right-hand corner of photo #228 I spotted something interesting.  Could it be?

I had never seen a live Hibiscadelphus but was eager to show Ken who is seasoned in identifying native plants. Together we examined herbarium specimens and historic photos from the original discovery. When we revisited the drone photo on my computer, a wave of joy washed over us — indeed, there it was! We had rediscovered Hibiscadelphus woodii!

Our exuberance quickly gave way to a determined focus on what we needed to do next. Additional surveys were necessary to confirm the identification, but we were rained out over three consecutive days. On the fourth day, the rain broke and we were able to fly again.

Returning to our launch point on the Kalalau rim, I used the drone to relocate the Hibiscadelphus and was thrilled when we located two additional individuals. We used high-resolution video to search for potential access routes, but the cliffs are simply too high and sheer to allow any avenue to the plants.

What’s next for drone-aided plant conservation?

That brings us to today. Now that we have proven the value of drones in finding rare plants, the question is: what’s next? Research is underway with collaborators at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada to employ cutting mechanisms which may provide a platform for collecting plant material using a drone. In the near future, software development may open doors to smart surveys and AI post-processing.

For me, this interface between conservation and technology is truly exciting. Rediscovering a new population of H. woodii, a plant taxa known only from a very limited area of this single island, offers real hope in the face of daunting numbers. Since the year 2000, Hawai‘i may have lost some 27 plant species, a number poised to grow as habitat is lost, invasive species expand, and other climate and environmental factors advance. This new technology provides a promising avenue for finding, collecting, and saving plants that might otherwise be lost forever.

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By Ben Nyberg, GIS & Drone Technology Coordinator

This story originally appeared in The Bulletin, NTBG’s quarterly magazine for members. Support plant conservation. Click here become and NTBG member now.

After years of being known for the ‘rustic charm’ of our humble and admittedly under-sized entrance kiosk, exciting changes are afoot at Kahanu Garden and Preserve where our recently completed Visitor and Education Center is now open.

It used to be that visitors who found their way to the end of the dirt road were unsure if they had indeed arrived at the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s Hana, Maui site. Kahanu Garden is home to the awe-inspiring Piilanihale Heiau, a towering lava rock edifice revered as a place of worship and designated a National Historic Landmark, and yet our old visitor’s kiosk was small and challenging for staff and visitors, especially on rainy days.

With more than 15,000 visitors to Kahanu Garden each year, we have long wanted a visitor center that could accommodate and educate tourists and community members in a facility befitting the world-class archeological, botanical, cultural, and scenic wonders of Kahanu Garden.

Visitor and Education Center Features

Now, after many years of preparation and planning, the Kahanu Garden Visitor and Education Center is open. Driving through the garden’s front gate, visitors are welcomed with a plantation-style charm reminiscent of old Maui. Weary travelers, having driven the thirty-some miles of dense jungle hairpin curves and switchbacks along the often one-lane Hana highway can take a break and relax in the roomy, open floor plan of the new center.

The handsome green one-story building is adorned with native Hawaiian landscaping, rock art, and stately ohia (Metrosideros polymorpha) posts at the front entrance to support the building. Climbing half a dozen steps leads to an open-door plan that invites visitors inside where they’ll find a bright, warm interior clad in koa (Acacia koa), breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), kamani (Calophyllum inophyllum), and other Polynesian hardwoods.

In the center of the building, a majestic photograph of Piilanihale Heiau offers a unique perspective as if you were at the base of the towering stone structure viewing the emblematic pig-shaped rock formation and stacked walls that surround.

The Visitor and Education Center also includes murals crafted by Hana’s youth using local hardwoods, many of which can be found in the garden. The artwork throughout the building tells a story. Above all of the doors are murals that depict the heiau, the voyage from Tahiti to Hawaii, and a collage of Polynesian ethnobotanical plants depicted in stained glass.

Upon entering, visitors are greeted with a warm “aloha!” and given a short orientation before being invited to explore the garden. In addition to learning about NTBG’s mission and what Kahanu Garden has to offer, the Visitor and Education Center carries garden-themed souvenirs and local crafts that reflect the plants in the garden. Items such as woven lauhala (pandanus) bracelets, māmaki loose leaf tea, books about tropical plants, and other items are available for purchase.

Hana History on Display at Visitor and Education Center

Also, within the center, is space for signage and mid-20th-century brochures and news clippings that tell stories of the surrounding plants, people, and culture. Here visitors can learn how Kahanu Garden was established in 1974 thanks to the great generosity of the Kahanu family and Hana Ranch who gifted two parcels of land to the Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden (now NTBG).

The building itself was built through a collaboration between Kahanu Garden staff, the contractor, Kipahulu Construction, and a Hana-based nonprofit, Ma Ka Hana Ka Ike. This project allowed high school students to learn important building and teamwork skills from their mentors and professionals. The students poured their heart and soul into the building construction and into the art they created.

Ma Ka Hana Ka Ike (literally: in doing, one learns) is focused on programs that help the Hāna community through grass-roots building projects, organic farming at Mahele Farm (which is part of Kahanu Garden property), and revitalizing the art of pounding taro (Colocasia esculenta) into poi. Through collective collaboration, the building portion of the project took place between June 2017 and April 2018.

Outside the center, guests can enjoy the wrap-around balcony that includes comfortable benches to enjoy a view of the breadfruit collection. Perhaps it is at this point visitors begin to slow down and realize there’s no need to rush or stick to a schedule. Kahanu is one of those rare places where you can spend more time, enjoy the garden, and really be present in the moment.

Saving Plants. Saving People.

The completion of Kahanu Garden’s Visitor and Education Center represents more than a new building. It reaffirms a key value of NTBG as we work to grow plants, and grow people. The garden itself has evolved through the completion of this project and we look forward to the center honoring the significance of this place and the wondrous botanical collections within.

Kahanu Garden and Preserve staff wish to extend our sincere thanks to all the Hana community, Ma Ka Hana Ka Ike, our Garden colleagues, volunteers, supporters, and to our ancestors for paving the way.

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By Mike Opgenorth, Director of Kahanu Garden and Preserve

This story originally appeared in The Bulletin – NTBG’s quarterly magazine for members. Support plant conservation. Click here to become an NTBG member now.

Kalāheo, Hawaiʻi  (August 9, 2019) — The National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) has named Dr. Nina Rønsted as its new Director of Science and Conservation. Rønsted will oversee the Science and Conservation Department at the Juliet Rice Wichman Botanical Research Center (BRC) at NTBG’s national headquarters in Kalāheo, Hawaiʻi on the island of Kauaʻi.

Dr. Rønsted comes to NTBG from the Natural History Museum of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen where she has held multiple research positions since 2002, serving as Professor of vascular plants, Herbarium Curator, Director of Education and most recently Director of Research (2015-2019).

As a botanist specializing in conservation science and ethnobotany, plant systematics, and the evolution of plant diversity, Rønsted has a Ph.D. in medicinal plant sciences from the University of Copenhagen and has held research fellowships at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK and the University of Minnesota.

Over the course of her career, Rønsted has explored the evolution of plant diversity and the relationship between people and plants with an emphasis on medicinal and other charismatic plants. She has conducted field work in Southeast Asia, South America, China, Australia, and various regions of Africa. In addition to her numerous international scientific publications, she is an enthusiastic science communicator.

Upon welcoming Dr. Rønsted to her new post, NTBG’s CEO and Director, Janet Mayfield said, “We are delighted to welcome Dr. Rønsted to NTBG and her family to Kaua‘i. Her experience and passion for plant conservation and ecosystem preservation are in perfect alignment with NTBG’s mission. Accelerated rates of plant extinction in Hawai‘i and globally, intensified by increasing threats to biodiversity, create an urgent need for the work of scientists such as Dr. Rønsted. We are looking forward to her contributions to research and conservation as she begins her career with NTBG.”

Upon her arrival at NTBG, Rønsted said, “NTBG is already an internationally renowned institution with excellent staff conducting critical research within tropical plant and conservation science. People and plants are tightly linked and I look very much forward to help further develop and communicate NTBG’s research program and provide science-based understanding and solutions to the local and international challenges of today.”

Dr. Rønsted succeeds Dr. David H. Lorence who has been employed by NTBG since 1987, serving as Director of Science and Conservation and Curator of the Herbarium (2002–2019). Lorence will remain on staff at NTBG, focusing his work on floristics, taxonomy, and systematics of Pacific Island plants. He will continue to serve as Senior Research Botanist and devote time to editing and publishing the Flora of the Marquesas (early 2020) and the Flora of Samoa.

NTBG has more than 20 staff working in positions directly related to science and conservation. The organization manages an 87,000 specimen herbarium, a seed bank and laboratory housing nearly 12.8 million seeds representing 694 taxa and cultivars, and over 100,000 accessions in the living collections which are located within NTBG gardens and preserves in Hawai‘i and Florida.

Additionally, the Science and Conservation Department is responsible for documenting biodiversity, adding wild-collected plants to the living collections, conservation efforts in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific through collection of seeds and cuttings, as well as supporting the work taking place in five preserves including the 987-acre Limahuli Preserve, located in one of Hawaiʻi’s most biodiverse habitats.

The National Tropical Botanical Garden (ntbg.org) is a not-for-profit, non-governmental institution with nearly 2,000 acres of gardens and preserves in Hawai‘i and Florida. NTBG’s mission is to enrich life through discovery, scientific research, conservation, and education by perpetuating the survival of plants, ecosystems, and cultural knowledge of tropical regions. NTBG is supported primarily through donations and grants.

For more information, visit: ntbg.org or email media@ntbg.org.

Limahuli Garden has reopened following more than a year of flood recovery efforts and is accepting reservations for self-guided and guided tours. The garden closed in April 2018 after historic flooding closed access to the garden and damaged infrastructure, trails, and plant collections. The garden’s hours of operation remain Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 to 4:00.

Important Reservation Information

In order to manage traffic and reduce the impact vehicles have on the garden and surrounding community, reservations are now required for self-guided tours at Limahuli Garden. Hawaii residents with a valid driver’s license and North Shore Shuttle riders are exempt. Hawaii ID or North Shore Shuttle ticket must be presented at check-in for visitors without advanced self-guided tour reservations. For more information about the North Shore Shuttle, please visit their website at https://kauainsshuttle.com/.

Adopting more sustainable tourism practices will allow the Garden to benefit the community, the areas natural & cultural resources and our visitors who come to engage in this very special place. Actively engaging in the solutions to take care of our places is a reciprocal responsibility all of us share equally. These measures are steps we will take to preserve our rural community, enhance our visitor experience and ensure our places are resilient and prosperous for generations to come. We are hopeful as we step forward towards a future of sustainable tourism, that we all work together to support and honor our communities, places and each other. Make a tour reservation now. 

As a University of Hawaii graduate student in the early 1980s, Dr. Diane Ragone became captivated with the most important food-producing tree crop in the Pacific. That tree — breadfruit — changed Diane’s life, while she transformed people’s understanding of what breadfruit could do.

In her quest to collect, study, and curate what would eventually become the world’s most extensive living collection of breadfruit varieties and closely related Artocarpus camansi (breadnut) and A. mariannensis, Diane recognized that achieving breadfruit’s full potential was limited by seasonality, prompting her to seek an answer to the question: Is it possible to have year-round breadfruit production?

Overcoming the Short Breadfruit Growing Season

While long-lived and easy to grow, depending on the variety, breadfruit typically has one longer fruit-bearing season followed by a shorter season over a four to six month period, leaving six to eight months of the year without fresh breadfruit.

Called ulu in Hawaiian, breadfruit has sustained people for centuries, but its lack of year-round production has been a limiting factor in achieving a reliable, steady supply and greater commercial viability. Traditionally, Pacific Islanders have prolonged the availability of breadfruit through preservation methods such as drying and fermentation.

Diane knew seasonal scarcity could also be addressed by the careful selection of diverse varieties which would better enable breadfruit to serve as a reliable staple for reducing hunger in the tropics.

The seasonality of tree crops like apples, pears, citrus, nuts, and legumes has been studied by land-grant universities and farmers for decades, but the same was not true for breadfruit, largely because it wasn’t possible to get adequate quantities of good quality, uniform planting material.

The Breadfruit Institute

That changed as Diane curated and built the breadfruit collection at Kahanu Garden on Maui and established the Breadfruit Institute (BFI) which, thanks to its efforts in partnering with Cultivaris (Global Breadfruit), and the University of British Columbia Okanagan, to name but a few, have been able to advance the pursuit of year-round production.

In 1996 Diane embarked on a ten-year study of 150 varieties represented by 200 trees growing at Kahanu Garden. Five years into the study, Diane graphed dates for male flower production, five stages of fruiting, and yield estimates.

She examined which varieties were producing fruit month by month over the course of each year. Closely studying production peaks (between September and December in Hawaii) and dips, Diane focused on the varieties that provided fruit when others didn’t.

Genetic Diversity May Hold the Key to Overlapping Breadfruit Production

Drawing on years of records and field notes she’d recorded throughout the Pacific, Diane selected a group of 20 varieties to capture the maximum genetic diversity in order to achieve overlapping production. Each variety was examined intensively for nutritional value and other characteristics. That group was then pared down to around 10-12 varieties to be targeted as candidates for mass micropropagation and global distribution.

The Breadfruit Institute was the first to conduct such a study and today shares its methodology and offers data collection recommendations to other institutes and researchers. Additional breadfruit seasonality studies have since been conducted in New Caledonia, Fiji, Kiribati, and currently at the University of Hawaiʻi for which Diane has served as an advisor and provided trees through the Plant a Tree of Life project.

Today, as scientists report the grave environmental threats resulting from the global loss of biodiversity in the wild, after working with breadfruit for over 35 years, Diane has demonstrated the value of collecting, studying, and preserving agricultural biodiversity in order to overcome the limitations of seasonality, proving how diversity in crops can greatly enhance food security and provide environmental benefits as well.

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By: Jon Letman, NTBG

This story originally appeared in The Bulletin – NTBG’s quarterly magazine for members. Support plant conservation. Click here to become a member now.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) publishes the online resource The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, ranking taxa (species, subspecies, or varieties) in one of nine categories from ‘Not Evaluated’ to ‘Extinct.’ The Red List is an invaluable tool for not only scientists, educators, and policy makers, but for anyone seeking a better understanding of the conservation status of plants and animals around the world.

In recent years, conservation agencies, institutions, and organizations including NTBG have redoubled efforts to assess the more than 1,200 native plant taxa in Hawaiʻi. To date, over 500 (approximately 40 percent) have been assessed, reviewed, and published on the Red List. Among these, 266 have been assessed as Critically Endangered, 98 as Endangered, 60 as Vulnerable, and 51 are listed as Extinct or Extinct in the Wild, adding to the more than 20,000 plant taxa published on the Red List worldwide.

Species: Capparis sandwichiana (maiapilo) (Capparaceae)

Conservation status: Vulnerable (VU)

Capparis sandwichiana, a native Hawaiian caper, is a beautiful shrub found on cliffs, lava flows, emerged coral reefs, and in rocky gulches of coastal areas. It is endemic to several of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (Midway, Pearl and Hermes, and Laysan) and the eight main Hawaiian Islands. This species is threatened by non-native plants, goats, rats, fire, sea-level rise, and coastal development. Although the total population numbers in the thousands across its range, subpopulations, and suitable habitat continue to decline.

NTBG staff monitor and collect seed from plants in the wild and curate ex situ conservation collections. Currently, among 51 accessions, over 10,000 seeds are stored in our Seed Bank and Laboratory, 333 plants are growing in our nursery, and 46 individuals are planted out with permanent tags in our Allerton, Kahanu, Limahuli and McBryde Gardens. On Kauaʻi, wild individuals are tagged with unique identifiers to enable consistent monitoring and the ability to link collections back to maternal founders.

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By: Seana Walsh, NTBG Conservation Biologist

This article originally appeared in The Bulletin – NTBG’s quarterly magazine for members. Support plant conservation. Click here to become a member now.

On August 9th, NTBG staff, state and federal conservation partners excavated two Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle Nests at Lawai Kai. One nest was viable and the other failed likely due to high tides and surf. Staff and their families were invited to witness the release of the eight hatchlings.

Researchers suggest that as the impact of climate change and sea-level rise affect the northwest Hawaiian Islands, more turtles will come to nest on Kauai and the other main Hawaiian islands. Research is ongoing to determine if the females nesting on Lawai Kai are returning to the beach where they were born more than 20 years ago.