The jackfruit tree (Artocarpus heterophyllus) bears massive fruits from the trunk and lower branches. Because the flowers and fruits develop directly from the trunk they are termed cauliflorous. Native to the Indo-Malaysian region, this tree is grown throughout the tropics for its pulpy, edible fruit. According to Charles Heiser (Seed To Civilization, 1973), the fruits may reach nearly three feet (0.9 m) in length and weigh up to 75 pounds (34 kg), thus making them perhaps the largest tree-bearing fruits on earth. Of course, the undisputed world's record for the largest fruit is a mammoth 1,061 pound pumpkin, a member of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae). Jackfruit and its close relative, breadfruit (A. altilis), belong to the diverse mulberry family (Moraceae). Since individual jackfruits are composed of many ripened ovaries from many densely-packed female flowers, they are technically referred to as multiple fruits. The flesh of jackfruits is eaten raw or preserved in syrup, and the seeds are eaten after boiling or roasting. In tropical countries it is generally considered inferior to the breadfruit.

The breadfruit is native to Polynesia where it is baked, boiled or fried as a starchy, potato-like vegetable and made into bread, pie and puddings. In 1789 Britain sent Captain Bligh on the H.M.S. Bounty to Tahiti to collect breadfruit cuttings for introduction into the New World colonies. Enchanted with the Tahitian way of life, the crew mutinied on the return voyage, putting Bligh off at sea in a small boat with 18 loyal followers. Bligh and his men survived a 3,618-nautical mile, 41-day trip to the East Indies. Undaunted, he returned to Tahiti on a second voyage and successfully introduced breadfruits into the West Indies in 1793.

Another very interesting member of the mulberry family is the osage orange (Maclura pomifera). Native to the midwestern and southeastern United States, this species is also known as the hedge apple because it was planted in thicket-like hedge rows before the advent of barbed wire fences. The fruit is neither an orange nor an apple, although it approaches the size of those fruits. Like the breadfruit and jackfruit, it is a true multiple fruit composed of numerous separate ovaries, each arising from a separate female flower. In fact, the bumpy surface of the fruit is due to the numerous, tightly-packed ovaries of the female flowers. The black hairs on the surface of the fruit are styles, each arising from a separate ovary. The wood of osage orange was highly prized by the Osage Indians of Arkansas and Missouri for bows. In fact, osage orange is stronger than oak (Quercus) and as tough as hickory (Carya), and is considered by archers to be one of the finest native North American woods for bows. In Arkansas, in the early 19th century, a good osage bow was worth a horse and a blanket. A yellow-orange dye is also extracted from the wood and is used as a substitute for fustic and aniline dyes in arts and industry.

Fruits of the genus Annona (Annonaceae), including the sugar apple (A. squamosa), cherimoya (A. cherimola), custard apple (A. reticulata) and soursop (A. muricata) resemble large fleshy berries with scales or projections on the outer surface. They are not multiple fruits because they develop from a single flower bearing many pistils (carpels). Individual flowers are protogynous with the stigma receptive before the stamens shed pollen. For maximum fruit production in cultivation, the flowers must be hand pollinated. Pollen is collected from mature male flowers and transferred to the sticky white stigmas of female flowers. The large, fleshy, berrylike fruit is technically an aggregate fruit or syncarp formed by the union (aggregation) of many ripened ovaries (carpels) and the fleshy receptacle. The demarcation of each carpel can be identified by spines or scales on the outside.

Note: The pawpaw (Asimina trilobata) is a smaller, pulpy berry of the annona family (Annonaceae) that grows wild in North America. It comes from a small deciduous tree native to forested regions of the eastern and southestern United States.