Flora of North America species comparison

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Caricaceae

papaya family
Habit Trees [rarely herbs], wood soft, sap milky.
Stems

erect; usually unbranched.
Leaves

alternate (borne at branch tips), palmately lobed [simple];

stipules absent;

petiole present;

blade margins entire or lobed.
Inflorescences

usually axillary, paniculate [cymose-paniculate, cymose, or racemose];

bracts present.
Pedicels

present or absent.
Flowers

usually unisexual, rarely bisexual, staminate and pistillate usually on different plants, 5-merous;

calyces rotate, campanulate, or tubular, 5-toothed.
Staminate flowers

corolla funnelform [tubular, salverform], tube elongate, 5-lobed, lobes oblong to linear [ovate];

stamens 10, in 2 series, borne at orifice of corolla tube, alternating longer and shorter;

anthers dehiscing by longitudinal slits, introrse, distinct or connate basally, connective often projecting beyond anther sacs;

ovary vestigial or absent.
Pistillate flowers

petals distinct or connate basally, oblong to linear;

ovary (1–)5-carpellate, 1-locular;

placentation parietal;

ovules 100+, anatropous, bitegmic;

styles 0 or 1;

stigmas 5, divided into 2 or more lobes.
Fruits

berries.
Seeds

brown to black, ovoid to compressed, smooth or warty;

aril gelatinous;

embryo linear, cotyledons flat, broad.

Caricaceae
Distribution
Central America; South America; w Africa; tropical regions [Introduced in North America; introduced pantropically]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Genera 6, species ca. 30 (1 in the flora).

Caricaceae consists mainly of soft-wood trees containing little secondary xylem. Any “wood” present is usually produced from phloem. Economically, the most important plant is Carica papaya, the source of papaya fruit. The fruits of Jarilla Rusby and Jacaratia A. de Candolle are locally grown and eaten in Mexico. Papaya has great variation in the inflorescence, especially in the pistillate flowers, probably as a result of being under extensive cultivation.

Caricaceae may be related to Passifloraceae, or to Cucurbitaceae.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 170. Treatment author: Walter C. Holmes.
Parent taxa
Subordinate taxa
Name authority Dumortier
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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