10 
BULLETIN Gl, HAWAII EXPERIMENT STATION 
gated ovaries into fruit. (Fig. 11.) Often the young fruit is not 
released from the corolla tube for several days after fertilization. 
Such fruit has a peculiar shape with a somewhat cylindrical basal 
portion which persists throughout the development of the fruit to 
maturity. (Fig. 14.) The mature fruits reach a length of 12 to 18 
inches, have a weight of 6 to 10 pounds, are usually of good flavor 
and have better shipping qualities than the more spherical forms of 
fruit of the dioecious 
kind. (Fig. 3.) 
VARIATIONS 
The numerous and 
unusual variations of 
Carica papaya are 
not only perplexing 
to the layman, but 
have proved to be 
confusing to the bot- 
anist and the horti- 
culturist. The causes 
of these variations 
may be grouped as 
environmental or 
hereditary. 
Environmental 
causes include condi- 
tions of soil, mois- 
ture, temperature, 
and location, and 
possibly a combina- 
tion of any or all 
of these factors. 
The results may be 
dwarf ness, unusual 
vigor, prolificacy, or 
stunted growth of 
the plants. The re- 
sults may be also a 
variation of fruit as 
to form, color, tex- 
ture, fragrance, and 
flavor. Contrary to 
natural methods, 
parthenocarpic fruits 
occasionally appear. 
These are seedless fruits, probably produced without sufficient 
stimulus of pollination to develop viable seeds, a condition noted 
also in such other fruit plants as the seedless bananas, and some 
varieties of oriental persimmons, vinifera grapes, and navel oranges. 
Seedless papayas are usually inferior to papayas that are produced 
normally, the flesh being thin and insipid. (Fig. 15.) Plants 
producing seedless papayas have been observed to drop most of 
their flowers probably because of failure of cross-pollination. This 
Figure 8. — Plant with mostly male flowers, some of which 
were perfect and produced fruit on long pendent stems 
