FLORA VITIENSIS. 97 
_Petiole 1 inch long. Blade 2 inches long, 2-23 inches broad. Flowers large; external parts of peri- 
gonium, judging from Milne’s indifferent specimens, greenish, internal red or blood-colour, 
Ordo XLII. PAPAYACEZE. 
I. Papaya, Tourn. Inst. p. 659, t. 441; DC. Prodr. pars xv. sect. i. p. 414. Lobi corolle 
masc. estivatione dextrorsum v. sinistrorsum contorta. Ovarium 1-loculare, ovulis secus lineas 5 in 
pariete externa dispositis. Stylus minimus. Stigma obovato-oblonga, planiuscula, patentia, obtuse 
lobata.. Semina rugoso-echinata.—Arbuscule inermes, foliis simplicibus palmatifidis v. subpartitis. 
—Carica, Linn. Gen. ed. 1. n. 759. Endl. Gen. n. 5119. 
In the Fijian specimens the zstivation of the corolla of the male flowers is in one and the same raceme 
both dextrorse and sinistrorse, so that one of the characters by which Alph. De Candolle distinguished 
Papaya from Vasconcellea breaks down. 
1. P. vulgaris, DC. in Lam. Dict. vol v. p. 2; dioica v. subdioica; foliis ambitu ovatis 7- 
(raro 6—9-)fidis v. subpartitis, lobis ovato-acutis varie sinuatis lobatisve inferioribus petiolo approxi- 
matis; racemis masc. pendulis v. patentibus petiolo brevioribus, foemineis abbreviatis 1—3-floris ; 
fructibus approximatis pendulis obovato-ellipsoideis obtusis viridi-luteis obtuse lateque subcostatis ; 
tuberculis seminum obtusis.— Papaya orientalis, Col. in Hern. Thes. p. 870, cum icone. Papaya et 
Ambapapaya, Rheede, Mal. vol. i.t. 15. Papaya, Rumph. Amb. vol. i. t. 50. Papaya, Hughes, 
Barbad. t. 14, 15. Carica Papaya, Linn. Sp. p. 1466, excl. syn.; Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 459; Hook. 
Bot. Mag. t. 1298, 2899; Wight, Ill. t. 106, 107. Papaya sativa, Tuss. Antil. vol. iii. p. 45. t. 10, 
ll. Papaya communis, Desc. Fl. Med. Antil. vol. i. t. 47, 48. Carica Mamaya, Vell. Fl. Flum. vol. 
x. t. 181 (pessima).—Nomen vernac. Vitiense, * Oleti."—Common about the European settlements 
and native villages. 
The Oleti or Papaw-tree has been introduced into Viti,—I am told in the early part of this century,— 
and Barclay alloca specimens of it in 1840 in Viti Levu, but I have not been able to learn from what 
country it has been brought over. The white settlers generally term the tree, which is now found in 
almost every part of the group, * Mammey-apple," and this may point to Brazil, where it is known by the 
name of * Mamaya." I have also seen specimens of this Papaya from the Marquesas Islands. Ellis (Polyn. 
Researches) does not enumerate it in 1829 as existing in Tahiti; Guillemin, in 1837, has it in his Tahitian 
list; but we have no other record of its being cultivated or wild in any other part of Polynesia. Neither 
the natives nor the white settlers seem to care much for the tree; only a few seem to be aware that sapo- 
naceous properties reside in the leaves, which, in the absence of soap, may be, snd in tropical Ameriea are, 
turned to n: that both the leaves and the fruit act in a hitherto unexplained way upon the animal 
fibre, and make tough meat tender if either boiled with portions of them or even wrapped up in the leaves ; 
that the fruit is very good eating, either raw or boiled, and that the seeds, distinguished by a mustard-like 
pungency, are an efficacious vermifuge for children. I donot know whence the Vitian name “ Oleti” is de- 
rived. The Tongan form is *Oliji.^ The Tahitian name is “ Ninita," and the Samoan “Esi.” Papaya, 
whence the English corru tion “ Papaw,” is a name given in America to several plants; the Papaw-tree 
of the United States is Uvaria triloba, Torr. et Gray; the Papaya of Spanish America is in most cases 
Papaya vulgaris, DC.; the Papaya eimarron of the Isthmus of Panama is Vasconcellea cauliflora, or some 
closely-allied species; and the Papaya colorada of New Granada is Urera girardinioides, Seem., anno 1854 
(U. laciniata, Weddell, anno 1856). 
The size of the fruits of the Fijian tree appeared to me to be smaller than I have seen it in other parts 
of the tropics, and possibly we may have here a distinct variety. 
Orpo XLIII. SAMYDEZE. 
e LE Casearia, Jacq. Amer. p. 132; Endl. Gen. n. 5060. Calyx persistens, 4—6-fidus, laciniis 
subzequalibus. Corolla 0. Stamina 12-30, summo calycis tubo inserta, exserta; filamenta basi 
inter se coalita, alterna subulata antherifera, alterna squam:eformia, sterilia; anthere ovate, erectæ, 
o 
