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220 ee QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Sepr., 1897. 
Economic Botany. 
No. 1. 
THE PAPA W (CARIOCA PAPAYA, Liny). 
By J. F. BAILEY. 
Derivation.—The plant, which belongs to the “ passion fruit” family 
(Passiflores), is said to have received its generic name on account of the 
foliage somewhat resembling that of the Common Fig (Ficus carica). In India 
Papaya or Papiya is the general name of the plant. Rumphius, a great 
authority on Indian botany, suspected that it was originally brought from a 
district called Popaya, in Peru; hence that name came to be applied to it. 
Description.—the tree generally: grows to a height of about 20 feet, is as 
a rule unbranched, although sometimes it will throw out numerous branches; 
wood spongy. ‘The leaves are Spreading, often a foot or more long, petiolated 
(stalked), and cut into seven oblong, sinuated, and almost pinnatifid lobes, the 
middle one of which is usually the longest and most divided ; smooth on both 
sides, dark-green above and marked with much ramified, pale veins, beneath much 
lighter coloured with prominent veins. Petiole (stalk) of leaf 1 or 2 ft. long, 
smooth, cylindrical. 
The plant is polygamous, that is to say there may be male, female, or 
hermaphrodite flowers on the same or on distinct plants. This does not seem 
to be generally understood in this colony. The male flowers are usually 
in long scantily branched axillary panicles, but at times these panicles are very 
short. The female flowers in most plants of the papaw are found close to the 
stem in the axils of the leaves, but are sometimes produced at the extremities 
of the abovementioned panicles. The fruit is oblong, and more or !es3 
furrowed ; the size of a small melon, yellowish when ripe, and containing @ 
' number of round, grey, slimy seeds, which resemble in flavour the fruit of the 
common garden Nasturtium. Hyery part of the plant exudes a miiky juice in 
abundance. 
Cultivation.—The papaw-tree is of rapid growth, and has been known 0 
fruit in this colony in ten months from the sowing of the seed. In North 
Queensland it has strayed from cultivation and become naturalised in the scrubs, 
where it bears fruitin abundance. When grown in Southern Queensland it 
should be given rich soil and a sheltered situation, for in winter if is apt to be 
seriously affected by frost and cold winds. It is readily propagated from 
seed, which should be sown, say, about September in a bed, formed of rich 
compost, in a sheltered part of the garden. The seedlings when they have 
attained the height of about 6 to 9 inches may be removed to their permanent 
positions; choose dull cloudy weather for this operation. It is better to plant 
close, say 6 feet or so apart, which would allow thinning out, at the first 
flowering of the young trees, those bearing the long panicled flowers, which 
are mostly male, the female flowers, if any, on such producing worthless fruit. 
If each young seedling, when planted out, could be pHedea with a small bough 
and given a light mulch, it would be an advantage. In clearing away weeds 
great care must be taken not to injure the stems. 
Uses.—The papaw is largely used in all tropical countries, and is rightly 
considered one of the most wholesome of fruits. 
As a medicinal plant it is particularly deserving of notice. According 
to Dymock, the anthelmintic properties of the milky juico were first notice 
zu the severicenth cenzury by Hernandez, and the attention of the medical 
