Jackfruit (Kathal) Tree (Artocarpus heterophyllus): Where It Grows in India and How to Plant It
Artocarpus heterophyllus
Jackfruit, kathal (कटहल) in Hindi, is Artocarpus heterophyllus, the big evergreen fruit tree native to India. How to plant a grafted kathal tree and when, where to plant it, how to raise a plant from seed, whether it can live in a pot, how to recognise it, three years of care and what to watch out for.
Overview
Jackfruit, called kathal (कटहल) in Hindi, is Artocarpus heterophyllus, a large evergreen fruit tree of the mulberry family (Moraceae) that is native to India and grows best in the warm, humid south, east and north-east. In English the tree is the jackfruit tree or jack tree; in Hindi it is कटहल का पेड़, also written katahal.
A grafted kathal starts bearing in about its fifth year in TNAU's guidance, and its fruit is cooked green as a vegetable or eaten ripe. It is a tree of warm, wet places: it dislikes drought, frost and waterlogged soil, so in the dry north-west it survives only with regular watering and winter protection. This guide covers where it grows well, how to plant a grafted sapling or raise a plant from seed, whether it can live in a pot, how to recognise it, and what to watch out for.
Photo: "Jackfruit Tree Kerala" by Sanu N, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Quick facts
| Scientific name | Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. |
| Family | Moraceae (mulberry and fig family) |
| Hindi name | कटहल (Katahal), कठल (Kathal); कटहल का पेड़ (jackfruit tree) |
| Also called | Jackfruit, jack tree; Kanthal, Kathar (Hindi, ICRAF); Panasa (Sanskrit, ICRAF); Kathal (Bengali), Phanas (Marathi), Chakka (Malayalam), Palaa (Tamil), Panas (Telugu, Odia), Halasu (Kannada) (Flowers of India) |
| Mature height | 8–25 m, with a dense, dome-shaped crown (ICRAF) |
| Growth rate | Fairly fast when young: about 3 m tall at 2 years and 7 m at 5 years (ICRAF) |
| Water need | Moderate to high: ICRAF says it tolerates neither drought nor flooding |
| Years to first fruit | Grafts from about the 5th year and seedlings from about the 8th (TNAU); the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) gives 6–8 years |
| Fruit season | Harvest March–July in Tamil Nadu (TNAU); fruit matures around June in Kerala (KAU) |
| Planting season | With the monsoon in most of India; TNAU gives June–December for Tamil Nadu; months are a guide, see Planting calendar |
| Grows well in | The west coast, the southern peninsula, the east and the north-east; with care in the northern plains, central India and the Himalayan foothills; only with irrigation and frost cover in the north-west dry zone |
| Conservation status | Not yet assessed on the IUCN Red List (GBIF record, checked October 2026) |
Sources: Kew World Checklist of Vascular Plants (via GBIF): Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam., accepted name; native India; Assam, East Himalaya, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and ~50 other areas listed as introduced; GBIF species API: IUCN Red List category for Artocarpus heterophyllus (NOT_EVALUATED, code NE); Orwa C. et al. (2009). Agroforestree Database 4.0: Artocarpus heterophyllus. ICRAF; TNAU Agritech Portal, Horticulture: Jack (soil, climate, propagation, planting season, spacing, pit, irrigation, bearing age, harvest, pests); Kerala Agricultural University (CELKAU): Jackfruit, harvesting (first fruiting 6-8 years, fruit matures around June); Flowers of India: Jackfruit (Indian-language names, leaves, flowers, fruit, native to the Western Ghats, name from Malayalam chakka)
This article was prepared with AI assistance and checked by the GreenEye team against the sources shown in each section.
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