Log In New Account Sitemap
  • Home
  • Specimen Search
    • Search Collections
    • Map Search
    • Exsiccati Search
  • Images
    • Image Browser
    • Search Images
  • Flora Projects
    • Arizona
    • New Mexico
    • Colorado Plateau
    • Plant Atlas of Arizona (PAPAZ)
    • Sonoran Desert
    • Teaching Checklists
  • Agency Floras
    • NPS - Intermountain
    • USFWS - Region 2
    • BLM Flora
    • Coronado NF
  • Dynamic Floras
    • Dynamic Checklist
    • Dynamic Key
  • Additional Websites
    • New Mexico Flores
    • Plant Atlas Project of Arizona (PAPAZ)
    • Southwest Colorado Wildflowers
    • Vascular Plants of the Gila Wilderness
    • Consortium of Midwest Herbaria
    • Consortium of Southern Rocky Mountain Herbaria
    • Intermountain Region Herbaria Network (IRHN)
    • Mid-Atlantic Herbaria
    • North American Network of Small Herbaria (NANSH)
    • Northern Great Plains Herbaria
    • Red de Herbarios del Noroeste de México (northern Mexico)
    • SERNEC - Southeastern USA
    • Texas Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria (TORCH)
  • Resources
    • Help
    • Webinars
    • Joining a Symbiota Portal
Carica papaya L.  
Go To Encyclopedia of Life...
Family: Caricaceae
Papaya
[Carica cubensis Solms]
Carica papaya image
  • FNA
  • Web Links
Walter C. Holmes in Flora of North America (vol. 7)
Plants ca. 6 m. Stems to ca. 20 cm diam., bark green to gray or brown, leaf scars prominent, smooth. Leaves drooping proximally, erect or spreading distally; petiole 35-70 cm, hollow; blade round in general contour, 20-60 cm diam., shallowly to deeply palmately 5-9-lobed, lobes lanceolate to ovate, margins entire or pinnately divided into lanceolate to ovate lobes. Inflorescences 15-60 cm; bracts ± rhombic. Staminate flowers sessile; calyx green, short-tubular, ca. 1.5 mm, teeth triangular to linear; corolla white, 2-3.5 cm, lobes narrowly oblong, ca. 1.3 cm; stamens yellow. Pistillate flowers subsessile; calyx yellow, short-tubular, 5-10 mm, teeth triangular to linear; petals lanceolate-oblong, white to pale yellow, 3-5 cm; ovary ellipsoidal to rounded, 2-3 cm . Berries hanging from trunk near summit, green to orange, ellipsoidal to oblong, rounded distally, 8-45 cm. Seeds blackish. 2n = 18. Flowering and fruiting year round. Disturbed areas, waste places, hummocks, roadsides; 0-100 m; introduced, Fla.; Central America; nw South America; introduced also pantropically. Carica papaya is widely cultivated in tropical regions worldwide for its large melonlike fruit, one of the most popular tropical fruits, and occasionally as an ornamental. Papaya fruit is a good source of calcium, and vitamins A and C. Except for the ripe fruit, all parts of the plant possess a milky sap that contains the proteolytic enzymes papain and chymopapain, widely used to tenderize meat. Immature fruit, leaves, and flowers are also used as a cooked vegetable. Papaya also has industrial and pharmaceutical applications, including use in chewing gums, brewing, drugs for digestive ailments, treatment of gangrenous wounds, use in the textile industry, and use in production of soaps and shampoos.

The species is cultivated in extreme southern Texas, where occasional seedlings arise from seeds discarded in waste places or dumps but are never persistent.

  • Encyclopedia of Life
  • W3Tropicos
  • USDA PLANTS Database
  • Flora of North America
  • International Plant Names Index
  • Google Search Engine
  • Google Images
  • BOLD Systems - Barcode of Life Data Systems
  • Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI)
  • NCBI - National Center for Biotechnology Information
Carica papaya
Open Interactive Map
Carica papaya image
Glenn and Martha Vargas  
Carica papaya image
Barry Hammel  
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Glenn and Martha Vargas  
Carica papaya image
Reinaldo Aguilar  
Carica papaya image
Glenn and Martha Vargas  
Carica papaya image
Barry Hammel  
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Kathy M. Davis, University of Florida Herbarium  
Carica papaya image
Kathy M. Davis, University of Florida Herbarium  
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Kathy M. Davis, University of Florida Herbarium  
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Kathy M. Davis, University of Florida Herbarium  
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Kathy M. Davis, University of Florida Herbarium  
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Kathy M. Davis, University of Florida Herbarium  
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Kathy M. Davis, University of Florida Herbarium  
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Kathy M. Davis, University of Florida Herbarium  
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Kathy M. Davis, University of Florida Herbarium  
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Kathy M. Davis, University of Florida Herbarium  
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Kathy M. Davis, University of Florida Herbarium  
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Carica papaya image
Click to Display
100 Initial Images
- - - - -
View All Images
The National Science Foundation
Developments of SEINet, Symbiota, and associated specimen databases have been supported by National Science Foundation Grants (DBI 9983132, BRC 0237418, DBI 0743827, DBI 0847966)