CARICACEZ. SILVA 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 
‘3 
is considered one of the most wholesome of all tropical fruits, and Carica Candamarcensis' is cultivated 
on the Andes of Ecuador as a fruit-tree. 
In Argentina the juice of Carica quercifolia,’ like that of 
Carica Papaya, is considered a valuable anthelmentic, and is thought useful in the treatment of 
pulmonary affections; the flowers are esteemed as pectorals and the leaves are employed in washing as 
a substitute for soap? 
Tn Florida Carica is not known to be injured by insects or attacked by fungal diseases.’ 
The generic name is from the Carib name of Carica Papaya in use in Hispaniola when the 
Spaniards first invaded that island.’ 
gastric secretions. The leaves of Carica quercifolia were found to 
be even more potent than those of Carica Papaya in their effects 
upon meat, the dissolution proceeding more rapidly, as much being 
accomplished in one day as in two days by the leaves of Carica 
Papaya. Experiments made with the whites and yolks of hard- 
boiled eggs showed that the leaves of the two species acted with 
equal potency and far more rapidly than they had on the pieces of 
meat. In twenty-four hours the outside layers of the albuminous 
particles had slimed off, and at the end of three days small pieces 
had become entirely dissolved, remaining on the surface of the leaf 
in the form of a thin liquid. At the end of three or four days only 
a slight decomposition was noticed on the surface of the yolk of 
the egg, and the leaves withered before any decisive effect was pro- 
duced. ‘ 
Papain and papayotin were at one time recommended in the 
United States as substitutes for pepsin in the treatment of diphthe- 
ria, to assist digestion, and as a galactagogue. (See Parke, Davis & 
Co., Organic Mat. Med. ed. 2,43.) Recent experiments show, how- 
Leds (6 
ever, that in st gp 
pepsin, and although good results have followed its use in the treat- 
ment of dyspeptic conditions, the same results are now obtained 
with greater certainty by the use of other agents, while in the cure 
of diphtheria it has been replaced by antitoxin treatment and the 
local application of germicides. 
yp papain is really inferior to 
1 Hooker f. Bot. Mag. ci. t. 6198 (1875). — Solms-Laubach, 
Martius Fl. Brasil. xiii. pt. iii, 184. 
Carica Candamarcensis is a common species of the equatorial 
Andes, where it is cultivated as a fruit-tree up to elevations of nine 
thousand feet above the sea-level. The fruits are described as 
bright yellow, eight or nine inches long and sometimes nearly as 
broad, with white soft flesh usually of pleasant flavor, although 
sometimes acid when the plant has grown in cool situations. (See 
Valasco, Historia Natural de Quito, 58.— Spruce, Jour. Linn. Soc. 
xo) 
2 Hieronymus, Pl. Diaph. Fl. Argent. 122 (1882). — Solms- 
Laubach, J. c. 178. 
Vasconcellea quercifolia, Saint-Hilaire, Mém. Acad. Sci. xv. 324 
(1838).— A. de Candolle, Prodr. xv. pt. i. 416. 
Carica hastata, Brignoli, Mem. Soc. Ital. Sci. Modena, ser. 2, i. 
77 (1862). 
Vasconcellosia hastata, Caruel, Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital. viii. 22, 
t. 2 (1876). 
8 See Morong, Bull. Pharm. v. 163, t. 
* There is no record of any fungi infesting Carica Papaya in the 
United States, although a number of species attack it in other 
parts of the world, and probably some of these will be found in 
this country. 
5 Oviedo, Hist. Gen. Nat. Ind. lib. viii. cap. 33. 
