CARICACEAE. 243 
CARICA. Papaya. True Papaw. 
(Family Caricaceae). 
Soft-wooded glabrous’ tender 
usually unbranched small trees 
with thin milky sap and smooth 
bark on which the enlarging teaf- 
scars persist for years: evergreen 
at the crown: pith 5-sided, at 
length hollow in the center, like 
the petioles. Buds small, round, 
essentially naked though the out- 
ermost leaves do not enlarge 
greatly, usually abortive except as 
they collaterally branch and pro- 
duce inflorescence shoots. Leaf- 
scars alternate, broadly _ shield- 
shaped or shallowly 3-lobed, slight- 
ly raised at base: bundle-traces 
many, small in an open series, 
quickly effaced: stipule-scars lack- 
ing. Leaves simple, long-stalked. 
The papaya is the tropical rep- 
resentative of the muskmelon as 
a table fruit, and somewhat resembles an under-flavored 
‘melon in taste as it does in appearance. It is grown often in 
plant houses and fruits not infrequently under such condi- 
tions. Plants that have reached the flowering age prove to 
be essentially dioecious, the staminate flowers borne in elon- 
gated clusters and the pistillate close to the stem,—though an 
occasional fruit forms on an otherwise sterile inflorescence. 
The latex of Carica contains the digestive ferment papain. 
Leaves palmately 7-divided. ; (1). C. Papaya. 
Leaves oak-like, shallowly 3-lobed. | ~ C. quercifolia. 
