N. 0. PASSIFLORÆ.
522. Carica Papaya, Linn: h.f.b.i., ii. 599. Roxb. 736.
Eng : — The Papaw or Papaya Tree.
Vern: — Pappiyá, pepiyâ (B.) ; Papaya, papiya-amba, popaiyah (H.) ; Arand-kharbúza, kharbúza. (Pb.); Popái (Duk.); Papai, papaya (Mar., Cutch and Bomb.); Paputa, katha chibhado (Sind); Papia, papáyi, kath, chibda, eranda kakdi (Guz.) ; Pappáyi, pappaâli (Tam); Bappâyi or boppâyi, madana-anapakáya (Tel.) ; Perangi, perinji (Kan,; ; Pappáya (Mal.).
Habitat: — Cultivated in gardens throughout India.
Introduced from South America. A small, fast-growing tree, usually unbranched, with milky juice. Bark thin, fleshy within, papery outside. Wood soft, consisting of an outer ring of fibrous wood bundles surrounding a large central mass of cellular pith tissue. In the wood ring the bundles are wedge-shaped, crossed ladder-like at intervals by bars in which, the rather small pores are found. Between the bundles comes the rather indistinct soft medullary rays on the vertical outer surface of the wood circle ; the ends of the bundles form a diamond, shaped network Gamble). Leaves glabrous, palmatifid- 12-24in. across, on long hollow petioles, forming a round tuft at the top of the stem. Stipules 0. Male flowers pale-yellow, fragrant, in long, drooping axillary panicles, generally diœcious, but occasionally there are a few hermaphrodite flowers on a male plant. Female flowers in short clusters. Calyx small, 5-lobed. Corolla-male: — tubular, 5-lobed ; Female:— of 5 tincar deciduous petals. Stamens 10, inserted in two rows in the mouth of the Corolla. Ovary free, ovules numerous, attached to 5-parieal Placentas. Fruit indehiscent, fleshy, sulcate. Seeds black, numerous, embedded in sweet pulp, the testa consisting of an inner hard, and an outer soft, larger. Embryo straight ; cotyledons flat, in oily albumen.
Uses : — Used in cases of enlarged spleen. The juice esteemed good for ringworm and also vermifuge (Lindley). The seeds are also considered vermifuge (O'Shaughnessy).
