44 



PAPAYACE^:. I. CARICA. 



order is founded, held a sort of middle station between Urticete 

 and Cucurbitacetz. Auguste St. Hilaire has, however, well re- 

 marked upon this subject, that the only relation that it has with 

 Urticece consists in the separation of sexes, its milky juice, its 

 habit, which is like that of some species of Ficus or Fig, its 

 foliage, which is not very different from the Cecrbpia, and the 

 position of its stigma ; and to these he wisely attaches very little 

 importance. Its fruit brings it near Cucurbitaceee ; but its true 

 place is probably nearer to Passiflbreee, with which it altogether 

 agrees in the appearance of its testa, in its unilocular fruit, 

 with parietal polyspermous placentas, and its having a calyx and 

 corolla present, differing, however, widely in its habit, and mo- 

 nopetalous flowers. 



The fruit of the Papaw is eaten when cooked, and is esteemed 

 by some persons ; but it appears to have little to recommend it. 

 Its great peculiarities are, that the juice of the unripe fruit is a 

 most powerful and most efficient vermifuge ; the powder of the 

 seed even answers the same purpose, and that a principal con- 

 stituent of this juice is febrine, a principle otherwise supposed 

 peculiar to the animal kingdom, and to fungi. The tree has 

 moreover, the singular property of rendering the toughest ani- 

 mal substances tender, by causing a separation of the muscular 

 fibre ; its very vapour even does this. 



I. CA'RICA (erroneously supposed to be a native of Caria). 

 Lin. gen. no. 1127. Schreb. 1536 Papaya, Tourn. 441. 

 Juss. 399. 



LIN. SYST. Dice^cia, Decdndria. Character the same as the 

 order. 



1 C. PAPA'YA (Lin. spec. 1466.) leaves palmately 7-lobed ; 

 segments deeply lobed, oblong, acute; male flowers corym- 

 bose. Jj . S. Native of both Indies. Humph, amb. 1. t. 

 50, 51. Merian, Surim. t. 40. Rheed. mal. 1. t. 15. f. 1. 

 Hook. bot. mag. 2898. Ker. bot. reg. 459. The papaw tree is 

 a native of South America and the West Indies, whence it was 

 brought by the Spaniards and Portuguese to the Philippines and 

 the Moluccas ; and from these Islands, it being of very quick 

 growth, it spread to all the other countries of India. In three 

 years from seed a papaw tree will be 20 feet high, and loaded 

 with flowers and fruit ; and for the sake of this fruit the plant is 

 generally cultivated ; it has a pleasant sweetish taste, and is 

 much liked by many people ; when young it is generally used 

 for sauce; and when boiled and mixed with lime-juice and 

 sugar, is not unlike, or much inferior to, that made of real ap- 

 ples, for which it is commonly substituted. But Sloane says, the 

 fruit is not in general gathered before it is ripe ; cut into slices, 

 soaked in water till the milky juice is out, and is then boiled and 

 eaten as turnips, or baked as apples. The juice of the pulp, 

 according to Descourtilz, in the " Flore Medicale des Antilles," 

 is used as a cosmetic to remove freckles on the skin, caused by 

 the sun ; and the negroes in the French colonies employ the 

 leaves to wash their linen instead of soap. As a medicinal plant 

 the papaw tree is particularly deserving of notice. Hernandez 

 long ago spoke of the milky juice of the unripe fruit as a power- 

 ful vermifuge ; which has been confirmed by M. Charpenter- 

 Cossigni, as mentioned in the Asiatic Researches by Dr. Heming 

 (vol. 2. p. 162.). A single dose, that gentleman says, is suffi- 

 cient to cure the disease, however abundant the worms may be. 

 Another writer (Pourpee Desportes) recommends the use of the 

 powder of the seed instead of the juice. But the most extraor- 

 dinary property of the papaw tree, is that which is related first, I 



believe by Browne, in his natural history of Jamaica, namely, 

 that " water impregnated with the milky juice of this tree is 

 thought to make all sorts of meat washed in it tender : but 8 or 

 10 minutes' steeping, it is said, will make it so soft that it will 

 drop in pieces from the spit before it is well roasted, or turn 

 soon to rags in the boiling." This circumstance has been re- 

 peatedly confirmed, and moreover, that old hogs and old poultry 

 which are fed upon the leaves and fruit, however tough the meat 

 they afford might otherwise be, is thus rendered perfectly ten- 

 der, and good if eaten as soon as killed, but that the flesh 

 passes very soon into a state of putridity. In the third volume 

 of the Wernerian Society's Memoirs there is a highly interesting 

 paper on the properties of the juice of the papaw tree, by Dr. 

 Holder, who has witnessed its effects in the Island of Barbadoes, 

 and speaks of them as known to all the inhabitants. The juice 

 causes a separation of the muscular fibres. Nay, the very 

 vapour of the tree serves this purpose ; hence many people sus- 

 pend the joints of meat, fowls, &c. in the upper part of the tree 

 in order to prepare them for the table. Such is the effect upon 

 hogs that feed upon the fruit, that the good housewives reject the 

 flesh of such if it be destined for salting, well knowing that it is 

 not sufficiently firm for the purpose. It is not known whether the 

 power of hastening the decay of meat be attributable to the 

 animal matter or febrine contained in the juice of the Papaw. 

 Two specimens of the juice were brought from the Isle of France ; 

 in the one the juice had been evaporated to dryness, and was in 

 the state of an extract; in the other the juice was preserved by 

 being mixed with equal bulk of rum. " Both were subjected 

 to analysis by Vauquelin. The first was of a yellowish white- 

 colour, and semitransparent ; its taste was sweetish ; and it had 

 no smell, and was pretty solid ; but attracted moisture when 

 kept in a damp place. The second was reddish brown, and had 

 the smell and taste of boiled beef. When the first specimen 

 was macerated in cold water, the greatest part of it dissolved ; 

 the solution frothed with soap. The addition of nitric acid 

 coagulated it, and rendered it white ; and when boiled, it threw 

 down abundance of white flakes. When the juice of the papaw 

 tree is heated with water, the greatest part dissolves ; but there 

 remains a substance insoluble, which has a greasy appearance. 

 It softens in the air, and becomes viscid, brown, and semitrans- 

 parent. When thrown on burning coals it melted, let drops of 

 grease exude, emitted the noise of meat roasting, and produced 

 a smoke which had the odour of fat volatilized. It left behind 

 it no residue. The substance was febrine. The resemblance 

 between the juice of the papaw tree and animal matter is so 

 close, that one would be tempted to suspect some imposition, 

 were not the evidence that it is really the juice of the tree quite 

 unquestionable. Thomson's System of Chemistry, extracted 

 from the Annales de Chimie, vol. 43. p. 267. Febrine had been 

 previously supposed to belong exclusively to the animal king- 

 dom ; but it has since been found in other vegetables, especially 

 in Fungi. The name papaw is abridged from papaia-marwn, 

 its name in Malabar. 



Common Paparv Tree. Fl. July. CIt. 1690. Tree 10 to 

 20 feet. 



2 C. CITRIFO'RMIS (Jacq. fil. ex Spreng. syst. 3. p. 905.) leaves 

 palmately 7-cleft ; segments oblong, acute, middle one trifid ; 

 fruit oval, smooth, tj . S. Native of Peru, about Lima. Flowers 

 yellow. Fruit the shape and size of an orange, edible like the 

 rest. 



Citron-formed Papaw. Clt. 1820. Tree 10 to 20 feet. 



3 C. PYRIFORMIS (Willd. spec. 4. p. 815.) leaves cordate, 3- 

 lobed ; lobes angular ; angles acute ; flowers corymbose ; fruit 

 pear-shaped. ^ S. Native of Peru, and Chili, on rocky clif 

 along the shore of Valparaiso. Feuille, per. 2. p. 52. t. 39. f. 1. 

 C. Prosoposa, Lin. spec. 1466.? Flowers rose-coloured. Fruit 



