CARICACEAE 337 



droecium cup-shaped, membranaceous beneath; filaments 5. Ovary rudi- 

 mentary or none. Female flower with calyx and corolla as in the male. 

 Corona a membranaceous fold, or none. Staminodes 5, forming a mem- 

 branaceous cup surrounding the base of the ovary, dividing above into 

 barren filaments. Ovary stalked or sessile. Fruit capsular, 3-valved. 

 (Greek "gland" from the glandular leaves and petioles.) 



Species about 60 in the tropics of the Old World, 2 or 3 in the Philippines. 



1. A. coccinea (Blanco) Merr. 



A glabrous, suflfrutescent or woody vine reaching a height of 10 m or 

 sometimes more. Leaves ovate to oblong-ovate, entire or sometimes palm- 

 ately 3-lobed, acuminate, base cordate, 7 to 15 cm long. Cymes long- 

 peduncled, few-flowered, usually tendril bearing. Flowers small. Fruit 

 ovoid, scarlet, smooth, 6 to 7 cm long, many-seeded. 



In thickets, Pasay, occasional, fl. Dec-Jan.; widely distributed in the 

 Phili|)pines. Endemic. 



94. CARICACEAE (Papaya Family) 



Erect, normally nnbranched, dioecious trees with milky sap. Leaves 

 alternate, crowded at the end of the stem, long-petioled, large, palmately 

 7- or 9-lobed. Male flowers in axillary, narrow, pendulous, elongated 

 panicles. Calyx short, 5-toothed. Corolla salver-shaped, the tube slender, 

 cylindric, the lobes 5, valvate or convolute. Stamens 10, inserted in the 

 throat of the corolla; filaments short; anthers basifixed, exserted. Female 

 flowers rather large, axillary. Calyx with 5 short lobes. Petals 5, free. 

 Ovary superior, free, 1-ceIled; stigmas 5, lobed; ovules numerous, in 2 or 

 many series on parietal placentae. Fruit large, fleshy. Seed globose, 

 enclosed in a gelatinous covering, the testa variously roughened. 



A single genus of few species, natives of tropical America. 



CARICA Linnaeus 



Characters of the Family. (Latin "fig," probably from its supposed 

 leaf -resemblance. ) 



1. C. PAPAYA L. Papaya (Sp.-Fil.). 



A small, erect, tree, 3 to 6 m high, unbranched, or sometimes when 

 injured becoming branched, the trunk soft, grayish, marked with large 

 petiole-scars. Leaves suborbicular in outline, 1 m broad or less, palmately 

 7- or 9-lobed, each lobe pinnately incised or lobed; petioles stout, hollow, 

 about 1 m long. Staminate inflorescence axillary, pendulous, paniculalte, 

 1 to 1.5 m long, the flowers in crowded clusters, straw-colored, fragrant, 

 the corolla-tube slender, about 2 cm long. Pistillate flowers in short 

 axillary spikes or racemes, the petals 7 cm long or less. Fruit subglobose, 

 obovoid, or oblong-cylindric, 5 to 30 cm long, green or yellow when mature, 

 fleshy. 



Common in cultivation throughout the Philippines frequently spontaneous, 

 fl. all the year; introduced from Mexico by the Spaniards at an early date, 

 now found in all tropical countries. 



A form occasionally occurs in Manila with a few female or perfect 

 flowers developed on the male inflorescence which become fertilized and 

 develop small fruits. 



111655 22 



