12 
BULLETIN 61, HAWAII EXPERIMENT STATION 
tions, it may die when the drought is prolonged. Sections of the 
trunk of plants the normal growth of which has been retarded in 
this manner for a short period will be found to remain small as if 
they were constricted, and the internodes will fail to lengthen nat- 
urally. From these conditions the papaya plant can not recover. 
Growth may be stunted without dropping of the flowers or young 
fruit. Giving the plant a renewed supply of nourishment will cause 
it to produce crowded and dwarfed fruit which may burst and decay 
before it has had a chance to reach usable size. (Fig. 16.) 
Hereditary varia- 
tions may appear as 
a recurrence of some 
form of ancestral 
characters, or they 
may be new com- 
binations from the 
direct influences of 
crossbreeding in the 
previous generation. 
Such variations are 
complete or partial 
changes in the in- 
florescence, particu- 
larly in the essential 
organs of the flow- 
ers, and may result 
in variation in form, 
color, odor, and 
flavor of the fruit. 
The influences of 
variation are also 
evident in the 
growth of the plant. 
The most remark- 
of all of these hered- 
itary irregularities is 
shown in the distri- 
bution of the sexes 
and their peculiar 
variations from time 
to time. In the in- 
florescence of the 
species may be found 
not only the three 
well-known floral 
forms, dioecious, monoecious, and polygamous, ascribed to plants in 
botany, but also a number of other sex combinations with which the 
papaya grower should familiarize himself. 
Staminate plants apparently have the greatest number of varia- 
tions. The younger staminate plants are distinguished from the 
pistillate forms by the appearance on them of long-stalked inflor- 
escence. (Fig. 7.) Normally, the flowers are purely staminate, each 
with a rudimentary pistil, but occasionally a flower cluster will de- 
velop one or more flowers which produce fruit. This may occur dur- 
fc* ->•« 
s 
oi 
i^mBJrriii^ltt'if^M^T 
% jM&f * A "iffef*f. JhMn 
Figure 10. — Papaya with roundish fruit which has longi- 
tudinal sections tbat give it somewhat the resemblance of 
the musknieion 
