CUSTARD-APPLE FAMILY 
Calyx.—Sepals three, valvate in bud, ovate, acuminate, pale 
green, downy. 
Corolla.—Petals six, in two rows, imbricate in the bud. Inner 
row acute, erect, nectariferous. Outer row broadly ovate, reflexed 
at maturity. Petals at first are green, then brown, and finally be- 
come dull purple and conspicuously veiny. 
Stamens.—Indefinite, densely packed on the globular receptacle. 
Filaments short; anthers extrorse, two-celled, opening longitudi- 
nally. 
Pistils.—Several, on the summit of the receptacle, projecting 
from the mass of stamens. Ovary one-celled ; stigma sessile ; ovules 
many, 
Fruit.—Baccate, oblong, cylindrical, fleshy, from three to five 
inches long. Sometimes curved or irregular because of imperfect 
development of seeds. Edible. Seeds flat, oblong, rounded at 
ends, an inch long, half an inch broad, wrinkled. September, Oc- 
tober. Cotyledons broad, five-lobed. 
One of two things a forest tree must do, it must be able to 
reach the top and so enjoy the air and sunlight, or it must 
learn to grow in the shade. ‘The Papaw has elected to grow 
in the shade. In its chosen home, which is the rich bottom 
lands of the Mississippi valley, it often forms a dense under- 
growth in the forest; sometimes it succeeds in obtaining 
complete possession of a tract, and there it appears as a 
thicket of small slender trees, whose great leaves are borne 
so close together at the ends of the branches, and which cover 
each other so symmetrically, that the effect is to give a pe- 
culiar imbricated appearance to the tree. 
The blossom is interesting rather than 
beautiful. It appears with the leaves, and 
at first is green as the leaves, but as the 
days go by it increases in size, darkens in 
color, and by way of greenish brown and 
brownish green it arrives finally at a rich, 
dark, vinous red. Part of the petals are 
honey laden, erect, gathered close about 
Flower of Papaw. the stamens and pistils, and the others are 
open, spreading, finally reflexed. The 
flower appeals to the scent, the sight, and the taste, of the 
vagrant fly and the wandering bee. 
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