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Carica papaya Linn. Sp. PI. 1036. 1753.
Papaya saliva Tussac
27. CARICACEAE
Engl. Papaw, Papeta, Papaya, Tree-melon; Sinh. Gas-labu, Pepol; Tarn. Pappali.
An erect tree, 2—6.6 m tall, with an unbranched, hollow, soft trunk, 10—60 cm diam.,
marked with the scars of fallen leaves; leaves alternate, spreading, together forming a terminal
crown, petiolate, subpeltately palmate, lamina 30—44 cm long, deeply cut into 5—7 segments,
segments more or less lobed, petioles 58—83 cm long, hollow, shorter in the younger leaves,
stipules absent; the trunk and leaves contain a milky juice; flowers regular, dioecious or
polygamous, white, yellow or greenish, unisexual or a few in the inflorescence bisexual; male and
polygamous inflorescences pendulous with long peduncles, cymose-paniculate, panicle more
or less ample; female very short, generally cymosely 3-flowered; male flowers 2—3.5 cm
long, elongate, tubulose, yellowish, odorous; calyx very small, sepals 5, free, 4—5 mm long;
corolla with a long slender tube 1.3 cm long, lobes valvate, oblong, 2.7 cm leng, 7 mm broad,
thick and twisted in the bud; stamens 10, inserted in the throat of the corolla, 5 alternating with
the lobes of the corolla with short filaments, 5 opposite the lobes, sessile, anthers adnate
to filaments, rudiments of ovary awl-shaped, 5 mm long, style wanting or very short; female
flowers: 4—6.5 cm long with corolla cut almost to the base; calyx as in the male; petals 5,
4.7—T6. 5 cm long, 1—1.5 cm broad, oblong oi oblong—ovate, falling early, sta mi nodes
wanting; ovary superior, large 2.5—3.5 cm long, 1.2—1.6cm broad ovate or oblong-ovate,
5-carpellary, unilocular with numerous parietal ovules, stigma 5-rayed, each ray with several
flattened lobes; fruit large, shortly stalked, ovoid, roundish, pear-shaped or ellipsoidal, 20—35 cm
long, 10—15 cm diam., pendulous, varying in colour when ripe from green or yellow, with or
without red markings to purple, flesh yellow or red, cavity ample or small with many seeds or
none; seeds ellipsoidal, • rough, angular, 6—7 mm long, enclosed in a membranous aril
and in pulp.
Illustrations. Fawcett and Rendle, Flora of Jamaica, 5: pi. 94. 1926; Macmillan, Trop.
Planting and Gardening, p. 231. 1956.
Distribution. Indigenous to tropical America and West Indies but cultivated throughout
the tropics. It is a common fruit tree planted in almost all village gardens in the mid and
low-country in Ceylon.
Composition. The entire plant contains a proteolytic enzyme papain (papayotin), mallic
acid and calcium mallate. The leaves contain a glucoside, carposide and the alkaloid carpaine.
The fruits contain saccharose, dextrose, levulose, mallic acid, pectin, papain and citrates. The
ripe fruit is a good source of vitamins A, B, B 2 and C in addition to iron and calcium. The fruit
also yields caricaxanthin and violaxanthin.
Uses. The ripe fruit is eaten for its vitamin value. The papain extracted from the
mature fruits has the proteolytic action of a digestive enzyme, a property of softening and
disintegrating proteins. It is administered for dyspepsia and intestinal irritation. It is also
used in solution to dissolve the fibrous membrane in croup or diphtheria. It has been applied
on ulcers and fissures of the tongue with good results. In the form of an ointment prepared
with borax, it removes warts and corns. It is a styptic, vermifuge, anthelmintic and sometimes
used to cause abortion.
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