Papaya plant, Carica papaya, also occasionally called paw paw is indigenous to the tropical regions of the Americas. It is a member of the Caricaceae family the genus Carica. It is a fast-growing, tropical, large tree-like fruiting plant, with a singular, upright, branch-less trunk, growing from 5 to 10 meters tall. Carica papaya plants are dioecious in nature.


Leaves are spirally formatted limited to the top of the trunk where shaping a palm-like head. Leaves are large, 50-70 cm diameter, deeply palmate lobed with 7-11 lobes. In a few parts of Asia the young leaves of papaya are cooked and consumed like spinach.

The blossoms are small, fragrant, and waxy, maturing into a large 15-45 cm long and 10-30 cm diameter fruit. Male flowers appear in droopy auxiliary panicles, female flowers solitary in axils or below leaves.

Papaya Fruit

The fruit, of the papaya tree also called papaya or paw paw. It is rounded, smooth-skinned, green at first, then when ripe yellow-orange or brownish-yellow in color. The fruit is ripe when it feels soft and its skin has gained amber to orange color. The ripe fruits are commonly eaten raw without the skin or seeds. The taste is vaguely alike to that of a peach although much milder.

The black, 0.6 cm in diameter, rounded seeds are edible and have a acute, spicy taste. They are occasionally ground up and used as a replacement for black pepper.

The immature green fruit of papaya or paw paw can be consumed cooked commonly in curries, salads and stews. It has a relatively high quantity of pectin which could be utilized to make jellies. Green papaya fruit is rich in an enzyme called papain a protease which is valuable in tenderizing meat and other proteins.

Papaya Propagation Methods

Propagation is by seeds sprouting in 2-3 weeks. Seeds retain their viability for 2-3 years when saved in air-dry and air-tight containers. In choosing Carica Papaya fruiting plants for field planting, the more robust growing plants are generally the males and might be safely discarded except for a a couple of.

Unreasonable consumption of Papaya, as of carrots, could cause carotenemia the yellowing of the soles of the feet and palms which is otherwise benign.

Carica papaya, paw paw, Papaya

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