44 
order is founded, held a sort of middle station between Urticee 
and Cucurbitacee. Auguste St. Hilaire has, however, well re- 
marked upon this subject, that the only relation that it has with 
Urticee consists in the separation of sexes, its milky juice, its 
habit, which is like that of some species of Ficus or Fig, its 
foliage, which is not very different from the Cecrdpia, and the 
position of its stigma; and to these he wisely attaches very little 
importance. Its fruit brings it near Cucurbitdcee ; but its true 
place is probably nearer to Passifloree, with which it altogether 
agrees in the appearance of its testa, in its unilocular fruit, 
with parietal polyspermous placentas, and its having a calyx and 
corolla present, differing, however, widely in its habit, and mo- 
nopetalous flowers. 
The fruit of the Papaw is eaten when cooked, and is esteemed 
by some persons; but it appears to have little to recommend it. 
Its great peculiarities are, that the juice of the unripe fruit is a 
most powerful and most efficient vermifuge ; the powder of the 
seed even answers the same purpose, and that a principal con- 
stituent of this juice is febrine, a principle otherwise supposed 
peculiar to the animal kingdom, and to fungi. The tree has 
moreover, the singular property of rendering the toughest ani- 
mal substances tender, by causing a separation of the muscular 
fibre ; its very vapour even does this. 
I. CA’RICA (erroneously supposed to be a native of Caria). 
Lin. gen. no. 1127. Schreb. 1536.—Papdya, Tourn. 441. 
Juss. 399. 
Lin. syst. Dice'cia, Decdéndria. 
order. 
1 C. Para'ya (Lin. spec. 1466.) leaves palmately 7-lobed ; 
segments deeply lobed, oblong, acute; male flowers corym- 
bose. h.S. Native of both Indies.—Rumph. amb. 1. t. 
50, 51.—Merian, Surim. t. 40. Rheed. mal. 1. t. 15. f. 1. 
Hook. bot. mag. 2898. Ker. bot. reg. 459. The papaw tree is 
a native of South America and the West Indies, whence it was 
brought by the Spaniards and Portuguese to the Philippines and 
the Moluccas; and from these Islands, it being of very quick 
growth, it spread to all the other countries of India. In three 
years from seed a papaw tree will be 20 feet high, and loaded 
with flowers and fruit ; and for the sake of this fruit the plant is 
generally cultivated; it has a pleasant sweetish taste, and is 
much. liked by many people; when young it is generally used 
for sauce; and when boiled and mixed with lime-juice and 
sugar, is not unlike, or much inferior to, that made of real ap- 
ples, for which it is commonly substituted. But Sloane says, the 
fruit is not in general gathered before it is ripe ; cut into slices, 
soaked in water till the milky juice is out, and is then boiled and 
eaten as turnips, or baked as apples. The juice of the pulp, 
according to Descourtilz, in the “ Flore Medicale des Antilles,” 
is used as a cosmetic to remove freckles on the skin, caused by 
the sun; and the negroes in the French colonies employ the 
leaves to wash their linen instead of soap. Asa medicinal plant 
the papaw tree is particularly deserving of notice. Hernandez 
long ago spoke of the milky juice of the unripe fruit as a power- 
ful vermifuge; which has been confirmed by M. Charpenter- 
Cossigni, as mentioned in the Asiatic Researches by Dr. Heming 
(vol. 2. p. 162.). A single dose, that gentleman says, is suffi- 
cient to cure the disease, however abundant the worms may be. 
Another writer (Pourpee Desportes) recommends the use of the 
powder of the seed instead of the juice. But the most extraor- 
dinary property of the papaw tree, is that which is related first, I 
Character the same as the 
PAPAYACE#. 
I. Carica. 
believe by Browne, in his natural history of Jamaica, namely, 
that “ water impregnated with the milky juice of this tree is 
thought to make all sorts of meat washed in it tender: but 8 or 
10 minutes’ steeping, it is said, will make it so soft that it will 
drop in pieces from the spit before it is well roasted, or turn 
soon to rags in the boiling.” This circumstance has been re- 
peatedly confirmed, and moreover, that old hogs and old poultry 
which are fed upon the leaves and fruit, however tough the meat 
they afford might otherwise be, is thus rendered perfectly ten- 
der, and good if eaten as soon as killed, but that the flesh 
passes very soon into a state of putridity. In the third volume 
of the Wernerian Society’s Memoirs there is a highly interesting 
paper on the properties of the juice of the papaw tree, by Dr. 
Holder, who has witnessed its effects in the Island of Barbadoes, 
and speaks of them as known to all the inhabitants. The juice 
causes a separation of the muscular fibres. Nay, the very 
vapour of the tree serves this purpose ; hence many people sus- 
pend the joints of meat, fowls, &c. in the upper part of the tree 
in order to prepare them for the table. Such is the effect upon 
hogs that feed upon the fruit, that the good housewives reject the 
flesh of such if it be destined for salting, well knowing that it is 
not sufficiently firm for the purpose. It is not known whether the 
power of hastening the decay of meat be attributable to the 
animal matter or febrine contained in the juice of the Papaw. 
Two specimens of the juice were brought from the Isle of France; 
in the one the juice had been evaporated to dryness, and was in 
the state of an extract; in the other the juice was preserved by 
being mixed with equal bulk of rum. ‘ Both were subjected 
to analysis by Vauquelin. The first was of a yellowish white- 
colour, and semitransparent ; its taste was sweetish ; and it had 
no smell, and was pretty solid; but attracted moisture when 
kept ina damp place. The second was reddish brown, and had 
the smell and taste of boiled beef. When the first specimen 
was macerated in cold water, the greatest part of it dissolved; 
the solution frothed with soap. The addition of nitric acid 
coagulated it, and rendered it white; and when boiled, it threw 
down abundance of white flakes. When the juice of the papaw 
tree is heated with water, the greatest part dissolves; but there 
remains a substance insoluble, which has a greasy appearance. 
It softens in the air, and becomes viscid, brown, and semitrans- 
parent. When thrown on burning coals it melted, let drops of 
grease exude, emitted the noise of meat roasting, and produced 
a smoke which had the odour of fat volatilized. It left behind 
it no residue. The substance was febrine. The resemblance 
between the juice of the papaw tree and animal matter is s0 
close, that one would be tempted to suspect some imposition, 
were not the evidence that it is really the juice of the tree quite 
unquestionable. Thomson’s System of Chemistry, extracted 
from the Annales de Chimie, vol. 43. p- 267. Febrine had been 
previously supposed to belong exclusively to the animal king- 
dom; but it has since been found in other vegetables, especially 
in Fingi. The name papaw is abridged from papaia-marum, 
its name in Malabar. 
Common Papaw Tree. 
20 feet. 
2 C. cirriro’ris (Jacq. fil. ex Spreng. syst. 3. p. 905.) leaves 
palmately 7-cleft; segments oblong, acute, middle one trifid; 
fruit oval, smooth. h.S. Native of Peru, about Lima. Flowers 
yellow. Fruit the shape and size of an orange, edible like the 
rest. 
Citron-formed Papaw. Clt. 1820. Tree 10 to 20 feet. 
3 C. pyriréxmis (Willd. spec. 4. p. 815.) leaves cordate, 3- 
lobed ; lobes angular; angles acute; flowers corymbose ; fruit 
pear-shaped. h.S. Native of Peru, and Chili, on rocky cliffs 
along the shore of Valparaiso.- Feuille, per. 2. p. 52. t. 89. f..1 
C. Prosopésa, Lin. spec. 1466.? Flowers rose-coloured. Fruit 
Fl. July. Clt. 1690. Tree 10 to 
