n86 



corolla with five sessile petals, growing in considerable numbers at tlie 

 apex of the stalk, which rapidly pushes upward and puts out new 

 leaf stems. The fruit development is so rapid that buds, flowers, 

 green and ripe fruit are often seen at the same time. The male 

 flowers are born on hanging stems, ranging from 6 inches to 1 foot or 

 more in length (hence the " hanging papaw"), and may be whits, 

 bright yellow, sometimes tinged with purple, often developing con- 

 siderable fragrance. The hanging stems in older trees bear fruiting 

 flowers and present a somewhat curious sight. The fruit of the hang- 

 ing papaw is not large, but is very sweet. The fruits vary considera- 

 bly in form as well as in size. They are orange shaped, squash -like or 

 quite resembling the cocoa pod ; again, they resemble musk-melons, 

 and in the highly cultivated variety water melon shapes are seen. 

 The fruits are green (or purplish cast) turning yellow when ripe. 



The skin of the melon is smooth and thin. Before ripening the 

 greater bulk of the latex lies just under this skin. The flesh of the 

 green fruit is white, tough and watery. As the fruit ripens it turns 

 to a musk-melon yellow, with a thickness of about 1| inches ending 

 in a central cavity which is filled with seeds attached to and held toge- 

 ther with a delicate membrane, which constitutes the inner skin of the 

 fruit. 



The seeds when fresh are dark brown, changing to black on drying. 

 Before dessication their outer membranous coating is transparent and 

 slippery ; the inner coating is hard, horny and wrinkled, and between 

 these two coatings lies a mucilaginous substance containing myrosin. 

 Within the inner shell lies the leaf-like cotyledons, veined at the base 

 with an albuminous homotropal embryo with a roundish radicle easily 

 distinguished when slightly magnified. 



The seeds when dried resemble pepper. They are aromatic, pungent 

 piquant but not as sharp as mustard, their taste slightly suggesting 

 water cress. 



CULTIVAVION AND GrOW^TH. 



It is quite common for numerous papaw plants to spring up from 

 seeds scattered by the birds over a portion of land which, according to 

 tropical custom, has been cleared by burning away the trees and under- 

 growth. There are no forests of papaws because the plants need sun 

 and room. They are seldom seen among dense growths. They do not 

 propagate in clusters. For the most part they are the product of culti- 

 vation, and near every hut are carefully guarded groups from two to 

 six in number.^ 



They present a striking appearance with their straight slim, shiny 

 stalk ; their bright green umbrella tops towering above a wilderness 

 of flower-sprinkled verdure. Most beautiful specimens are seen in such 

 a place, their base covered with a tangled undergrowth of trailing, 

 climbing vines. Their roots are kept moist by fallen leaves ; and en- 

 riched by nuts and fruits that fall and rot among the masses of forage 

 and litter so abundant in tropical gardens. 



(5) This has particular refereuce to the habits of the Carica Papaya. Certain 

 varieties such as the Carica quercifolia, V. microcarpa, etc., are sometimea found 

 in the dense forests. 



