82 ON PAPAYA VULGARIS. 
back part of the stamen is covered with whitish down. Nearly all the 
stamen-bearing flowers have a rudimentary pistil, * e basi ovoideà longe 
subulatum.” (A. De Cand. 1. c. ; conf. also Journal of Botany, iii. 310.) 
The pistilliferous flowers appear to be little known, as Alph. De 
Candolle complains of having found none in the different herbaria,* 
and I beg leave to give the following description :— 
Petala 5, a basi libera, calyci alterna, lanceolato-linearia, erecta 
(4—5 c.m. longa, 10—15 m.m. lata) estivatione dextrorsum contorta (in 
flore adulto apice bis terve spiraliter contorta); staminum rudimenta 
nulla; ovarium ovoideum, leviter et obtuse pentagonum ; stylus mini- 
mus; stigmata 5, irregulariter lobata, ambitu contorto, intus et mar- 
gine exteriori (limbi instar) papillosa, caduca; ovula oo, 5-seriata, 
anatropa. 
The hermaphrodite kwo which produce fruit like the female 
flowers, have been altogether overlooked; at least I could not find any 
notice of them in the books at my disposal. I found them on aZ the 
female trees I examined, though never in any great number. I add the 
following description : — 
Calyx ut in fcemina; corolla gamopetala, tubo ovoideo, calycino, 
obtuse quinque-angulato, pariete crassa, lobis 5, dextrorsum contortis, 
erectis; stamina ut in mare, fauci corolle inserta; ovarium semi- 
superum, parte inferiori inclusa, non adnata ; ovula oo, in juvenili floris 
statu pariete externa inordinatim acervata, in flore adulto 5-seriata; 
stylus minimus (aut, si mavis, nullus) ; stigmata 5, inzequalia, indivisa, 
papillosa. 
The stem of Papaya is generally simple; but sometimes it becomes 
branched when getting old, and then it does no longer produce fruit. 
The pith disappears very soon, and the hollow parts fill up with a 
watery fluid, which even in the hot season does not evaporate. The 
tree thus acts as a kind of natural drainage, a fact well known to the 
people of this eountry, and it is planted, not so much for the fruit, 
which is'no favourite here, as for its water-absorbing power.T 
* Ihave preserved a considerable number of female and hermaphrodite 
Lear in alcohol, whieh I shall forward for distribution to the Editor of this 
aromatic taste, which resembles 
By making slight incisions in the unripe 
