564 PAPAYACEAH.—-CUCURBITACEA. 
in this; in the insertion of the styles at the back instead of 
the apex of the ovary ; and in the seeds not being arillate. 
Distribution and Numbers.—They are all natives of Chili and 
Peru. Illustrative Genera :—Malesherbia, R. et P. ; Gynopleura, 
Cav. These are the only genera; they include 5 species. 
Properties and Uses.—Altogether unknown. 
Order 7. PapayacEx%, the Papaw Order.—Character.— 
Trees or shrubs, sometimes with an acrid milky juice. Leaves 
alternate, on long stalks, lobed. Flowers unisexual, or rarely 
perfect. Calyx inferior, minute, 5-toothed. Corolla monope- 
talous, and usually without scales or filamentous corona in the 
female flowers, 5-lobed. The male flower has a few stamens 
inserted on the corolla. The female flower has a 1-celled superior 
ovary, with 3—5 parietal placentas. Fruit succulent or dehis- 
cent. Seeds numerous, albuminous, with the radicle towards the 
hilum. It is included in Passifloracee by Bentham and Hooker. 
Distribution and Numbers.—Natives of South America and 
the warmer parts of the Old World. JTilustrative Genera :— 
Carica, Linn.; Modecca, Linn, There are about 26 species. 
Properties and Uses.—Generally unimportant; but the acrid 
milky juice is said to be poisonous in some species ; and in others 
emmenagogue. The seeds of some species are also emmena- 
gogue. 
Carica.—The acrid milky juice of Carica digitata is said to be a deadly 
poison. The juice of the unripe fruits and the powdered seeds of Carica 
Pupaya, the Papaw-tree, are powerful anthelmintics ; the former being the 
more active and certain in its action. The fruit, however, when cooked, 
is eaten. The powdered seeds have also a great reputation in Southern 
India for their powerful emmenagogue properties, and it is well known that 
if the fruit be eaten in a certain stage by pregnant women it is exceedingly 
liable to produce abortion, hence doctors invariably warn such patients not 
to eat such fruit. The milky juice of the unripe fruit has the property of 
rapidly softening the toughest, meat when boiled with it for a short time. 
Its use for this purpose is very general in Quito; and experiments have 
shown that it contains a substance called papayotin or papain, which has 
the property of digesting fibrin like pepsin. Papayotin has also been re- 
commended in the form of a solution to remove warts, &c., and as a solvent 
of the false membrane in diphtheria. The leaves are also used in some 
districts as a substitute for soap. 
Order 8. CucURBITACE®, the Gourd Order.—Character.— 
Herbs, generally of a succulent nature, and either prostrate or 
climbing by means of tendrils. Leaves succulent, alternate, 
with a radiate venation (fig. 310), more or less scabrous, ex- 
stipulate. Flowers unisexual (figs. 963 and 964), monoecious or 
dicecious. Calyx monosepalous, 5-toothed (fig. 963), the limb 
sometimes obsolete, superior in the female flowers (jig. 963, co). 
Corolla monopetalous (figs. 963, p, and 964, p), 4—5-parted, 
or of distinct valvate or induplicate petals, sometimes fringed, 
perigynous. Male flower:—Stamens usually 5, epipetalous 
