Plants Collected in Paraguay. 117 



thoroughly united at the base, spreading* divaricately so as to appear 

 as if there were only a single leaf t-15 cm. in length, standing at 

 right angles to the petiole. This is 8-20 mm. wide at the widest 

 part, and obtuse or acuminate, sometimes aristate at each end. 

 Flowers very light purple, not over 4 cm. in diameter. Fruit about 

 as large as a plum and dark purple when mature. I found this on 

 the banks of the Pilcomayo near the ''Junta," and very common 

 in the water of the great laguna above the Falls, where its numer- 

 ous dark berries were very conspicuous. 



Passiflora Tucumanensis, Hook., Bot. Mag., t. 3636. 



Pilcomayo River (1505). May. 



Leaves glabrous, nearly equally 3-lobed, w^ith a broad, rather 

 deep cordate sinus at base. Flowers large, sepals greenish; petals 

 light purple. Fruit not seen. Climbing 5-6 m. or more. In 

 thickets. 



Carica Papaya, L., Sp. PL, 1036. 



Asuncion (370). January. 



This tree is usually called the Mamona or Mamon in Paraguay. 

 It is the well-known Papaw of the West Indies, and has been ex- 

 tensively cultivated in tropical South America for centuries. The 

 fruit, about as large as an apple, is much liked by the natives, but to 

 me it seemed insipid. The juice is milky, and has many valuable 

 properties, among others that of rendering tough meat wrapped in 

 the leaves quite tender. I tried many experiments with the leaves, 

 and found that they readily dissolved small cubes of fresh beef and 

 the white of a hard-boiled qq^. This juice is highly esteemed as a 

 pepsin, and for other medicinal qualities. For an account of the 

 tree and its ally (no. 389) and their chemical and medicinal proper- 

 ties, see my article on Carica quercifolia, in the Bulletin of Phar- 

 macy for April, 1891, p. 163. 



Carica quercifolia (St. Hil.), Solms. in Mart. Fl. Bras., Fasc. cvi, 178. 



Villa Rica (389). January. 



Much resembles the preceding species in general appearance, but 

 the leaves are simple instead of being palmately 7-cleft as in that. 

 It is somewhat smaller, being from 3 to 7 m. in height, and it is 

 dioecious, whereas the other is monoecio-polygamous The fruit is 

 small and not edible, pulpy and perishable. It has the same prop- 



