710 



Papaya 



linear-lanceolate, erect petals 2 to 2.5 cm. long, twisted in the bud; the ovary is 

 ovoid, bluntly 5-angled. The perfect flowers have a tubular-bellshaped, corolla, 

 its lobes erect, and usuaUy 5 stamens; ovary obovoid or oblong. The fruit is a 

 large berry, oblong to subglobose, 2 to 12 cm. long, short-pointed at the apex, yel- 

 lowish or orange-colored, the skin thick, closely adhering to the firm flesh, sweetly 

 insipid, enclosing a mass of numerous black, round, rough seeds each about 4 mm. 

 long. 



It is largely cultivated in the tropics for its fruit, improved forms yielding very 

 large sweet kinds. In Florida two varieties are growing wild, one with slender 

 green stems, producing small fruit, the other has stout, purplish stems, and yields a 

 large fruit. 



Fig. 653. — Papaya. 



The Papaya is useful in many ways; various parts of the plant have been used 

 medicinally for many human ailments. The juice will remove warts and cleanse 

 wounds. The leaves are used as soap and tough meat is packed in them to make 

 it tender. The active principle, an enzyme of the milky juice, papain, is a gray- 

 ish white powder, which has been used in scientific medicine as a digestive agent 

 similar to pepsin, and to dissolve the membranes in diphtheria. 



The genus consists of about 21 species, all tropical American plants very similar 

 to the Papaya, which is the type of the genus. The name Papaya is the old Carib 

 one; the generic name refers to the supposed resemblance of the fruit to figs. 



The wood is soft and spongy and of no known use. 



