<p><i>Artocarpus hirsutus</i> Lam. is a tropical, evergreen, keystone tree species endemic to the Western Ghats of India commercially utilized for its valuable timber. The seeds of the plant show recalcitrant nature and lose viability within two weeks of natural drying after dehiscence. As the seeds are recalcitrant, there is a question about whether the seeds express stress–responsive protein during development and desiccation after detachment from the mother plant. In order to confirm this, protein expression profiling was carried out by SDS-PAGE followed by LC–MS/MS. It was found that, during the early stages of seed development where the moisture content was above 80% and the seeds were in fully hydrated state without water stress, varieties of stress–responsive proteins were expressed. Late embryogenesis-abundant proteins which are responsible for maturation drying in orthodox seeds, antioxidant enzymes, redox enzymes, and heat shock proteins were found during this stage. The production of dehydrin was also observed during the early stages of seed development in <i>Artocarpus hirsutus</i>. However during seed maturation, where the moisture content is above 70%, storage proteins were only detected. During desiccation of the fully mature seed where the water content goes below 40%, no stress tolerance proteins were identified. This might be a reason for the desiccation intolerance of this species.</p>