CAREX 



CARICA 



663 



inans, Berger (C. Vilmorinii, Mott. 

 C. V ilmoriniana, Hort.). Densely tufted, 

 with many very narrow Ivs., and filiform 

 culms \ l /2 ft. or less high: spikes 5-7, the 

 terminal staminate, linear and short- 

 stalked, the lateral pistillate (or perhaps 

 staminate at base), oblong or cylindrical 

 and dense-fld., about 1 in. long, and with 

 aristate scales: perigynium 3-angled 

 (stigmas 3), lance-ovate, attenuate at base 

 and with a 2-toothed scabrous beak. New 

 Zeal. A good hardy edging plant when a 

 tufted grassy effect is desired. 



Buchananii, Berger (C. lucida, Boott, 

 var. Buchdnanii, Kuek.). Allied to the 

 preceding: densely tufted: Ivs. leathery, 

 semi-terete ,very narrow, brown-red : spikes 

 5-8, the terminal staminate and linear- 

 cylindrical, long-stalked, the lateral pistil- 

 late and cylindrical, \Yi in. long, densely- 

 fld.: perigynium plano-convex (stigmas 2), 

 produced into a long margined scabrous 

 deeply bidentate beak. New Zeal. Grown 

 for its reddish foliage. 



Gaudichaudiana, Kunth (C. vulgaris, 

 Fries, var. Gaudichaudiana, Boott). Culms 

 erect, 1-2 ft.: Ivs. long and grass-like: 

 staminate fls. in terminal spikes: pistillate 

 fls. in 2-3 cylindrical, sessile or subsessile 

 spikes: perigynium lenticular, small, very 

 short-beaked, obscurely 2-toothed, finely 

 nerved, longer than the narrow scale. 

 Japan, Austral. New Zeal. Useful for 

 bog planting. 



Fraseri, Andr. (Cymophyllus 

 Frdseri, Mack.) Lvs. 1 in. or 

 more broad, stiff, but with no 

 midnerve, flat and thick, ever- 

 green: culm 16 in. or less high- 

 bearing at its summit a single 

 whitish spike which is staminate 

 at top: perigynium ovoid, thin 

 and inflated. Rich mountain 

 woods, Va. B.M. 1391 (as C. 

 Fraseriana). Rare, and a very 

 remarkable plant. 



C. bdccans, Nees. Robust, with 

 curving Ivs. to 2 ft. long and }^in. 

 broad: fr. berry-like (whence the name), 

 crimson or vermilion, in clustered spikes 

 standing well above the Ivs. India. G. 

 1:461. Useful for pots or for planting 

 in a conservatory, for its ornamental 



fr., but probably not now in cult, commercially. C. gallica variegata 

 is offered abroad as a "very elegant, showy and charming" carex.-^-C. 

 ripdria, Curt., a rank-growing lowland species of wide distribution, 

 is sometimes grown in a variegated-lvd. form. The name has no 

 botanical standing. With the exten- 

 sion of wild gardening, and particu- 

 larly of bog- and water-gardening, 

 many other species of Carex may be 

 expected to appear in the trade lists. 



L. H. B. 



CARICA (a geographical 

 name) . Papayacese. PAPAYA. 

 Small, rapid - growing, un- 

 fa ranched trees, commonly 

 grown in greenhouses as foli- 

 age plants and often bearing 

 fruit under such conditions. 

 Juice milky. 



Leaves large, soft, long- 

 stalked, in clusters at the top 

 of the trunk : usually dioecious, 

 the male fls. on long axillary 

 peduncles, funnel-shaped, with 

 10 anthers in the throat, the 

 pistillate fls. larger and with 5 

 distinct petals and a single 799. Carex Morrowii. 



798. Carex (C. longirostris), with termi- 

 nal staminate spikes and drooping pistil- 

 late spikes. (XJi). N. Amer. 



pistil with 5-rayed stigma, sessile in the axils of the Ivs. 

 -Perhaps 20 species, all native to the American tropics, 

 but C. Papaya is cult, throughout the tropics for its 

 delicious edible fruits. See Papaya. 



The soil most suited for caricas is a rich loam, having 

 perfect drainage. As the stem is succulent and tender, 

 great care is necessary to avoid bruising, hence pot- 

 grown plants are much to be preferred to seedlings 

 from the open ground. Seeds should be selected from 

 the best and largest fruits and sown in a well-worked 

 bed under a slight shade. If seeds are quite dry or old, 

 they should be soaked in warm water before sowing. 

 The seedling plants are delicate, and require close 

 watching at first to avoid damping-off. As soon as 

 plants are well up remove the shading, and after the 

 third leaf appears they may be pricked out into a larger 

 bed, or better, potted off in fairly rich soil. After plants 

 are a few weeks old, and have been shifted once into 

 larger pots, they may be set permanently outdoors in 

 the tropics. Caricas seldom branch, but usually grow 

 upright like a palm, hence cuttings are not often avail- 

 able. Sqmetimes small branches form, and these may 

 be cut off and as readily rooted as most tropical deco- 

 rative plants, provided the cutting is not too young 

 and tender. This method has been found in Florida 

 to be too slow, and what is evidently a better method 

 of propagation, by means of graftage, has been devised 

 by Edward Simmonds, of the Plant In- 

 troduction Field Station, Miami, Florida. 

 Numerous shoots are formed by the buds 

 at the leaf-scars when a papaya tree is 

 topped, as many as fifty or more being 

 produced. "One of these shoots is taken 

 when a few inches long and about the 

 diameter of a lead pencil, is sharpened 

 to a wedge point, the leaf surface re- 

 duced, and inserted in a cleft in a young 

 seedling which has been decapitated 

 when 5 to 10 inches high, and split with 

 an unusually sharp, thin grafting-knife. 

 At this age the trunk of the young seed- 

 ling has not yet formed the hollow 

 space in the center. Seeds planted in 

 the greenhouse in February produce 

 young seedlings large enough to graft 

 some time in March; these grafted trees, 

 which can be grown in pots, when set out 

 in the open ground in May or the latter 

 part of April, make an astonishing 

 growth and come into bearing in Novem- 

 ber or December; they continue bear- 

 ing throughout the following spring and 

 summer, and if it is advisable, can be left to bear 

 fruit into the following autumn." Varieties of superior 

 flavor and better size and shape for shipping, as well as 

 hermaphrodite varieties, may 

 now be successfully main- 

 tained. For complete descrip- 

 tion of this method see "The 

 Grafted Papaya as an Annual 

 Fruit Tree," by David Fair- 

 child and Edward Simmonds, 

 Circular No. 119, Bureau of 

 Plant Industry, 1913. In tem- 



Eerate climates, caricas have 

 een found to be good decora- 

 tive plants for both conserva- 

 tory and summer bedding, the 

 deeply cut, palmate leaves 

 forming a striking contrast to 

 ordinary vegetation. In bed- 

 ding out, select open, sunny 

 exposure, with perfect drainage, 

 and make the soil rich and 

 friable. Constant cultivation 

 with a light hoe will cause a 



