THE PAPAW-TREE or MELON TREE. 



Carica Papaya Lin. PASSIFLORACEAE (PAPAYACEAE), 



Maltese papaja. Italia.n=flafiam. Yvench^papayer. 



The Papaw tree is native of central and tropical 

 America, but is now cultivated in all tropical countries. 

 It is a small tree from 5 to 15 metres high, usually un- 

 branched, but may become branched if the terminal 

 shoot is injured or destroyed. It has a thick fleshy stem 

 and large palmate leaves, not unlike those of the Castor 

 oil plant, but much larger, more deeply divided and 

 borne on a long thick petiole. The tree is dioecious. 

 The male tree has slightly smaller leaves and is more 

 prone to branch. The male flowers are produced in 

 large panicles, the flowers blooming uninterruptedly 

 throughout the summer and autumn. Occasionally among 

 the male flowers there are found one or more herma- 

 phrodite flowers which give origin to undersized fruits. 

 The female tree produces the sessile or short stalked 

 female flowers singly or in pairs at the axils of the leaves 

 and if duly fertilized they all develop into fruits, which 

 are variable in size and shape according the variety to 

 which the tree belongs. An average papaw-fruit is of 

 an oblong pointed shape, slightly angular, about 2oc.m. 

 long, and 10 to 15 c.m. in thickness, deep golden yellow 

 when ripe, the thickness of the flesh or pulp being about 

 3 c.m , and tastes much like a melon. The fruit encloses 

 a large cavity, to the sides of which the small, round, 

 wrinkled, hemp-like seeds are loosely attached. The ripe 

 fruit is eaten with sugar, and the green fruit is sliced and 

 cooked in many ways. All green parts of the tree exude 

 a milky liquid, from wounds in the bark or the epidermis, 

 which contains papayin, a powerful peptonizing principle, 



now frequently used in medicine. 



T. j 



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