Papaya

Description:

Small herbaceous tree with white milky juice. trunk with scars of fallen leaves. Leaf blade 30-60 cm long, deeply divided into several lobes which are again divided into smaller lobes with acute apex, petiole 40-100 cm long, 1-3 cm in diameter. Plants mostly dioecious rarely monoecious with fragrant and nocturnal flowers. Male inflorescence 30-100 cm long pendulous raceme. Flower in clusters, sessile. 1.5-2 cm across and 3-6 cm long, calyx small c. 2 mm long, 5-lobed, acute. Corolla tube 3-6 cm long, 5-lobed, twisted in bud, lobes c. 1 x 0.5 cm long, creamy yellow. Stamens 10, in two whorls, outer whorl of the stamens shortly stalked, filaments c. 1.5 mm long, papilose, inner most sessile, anthers 1.5-2 mm long 2-celled dehiscing longitudinally, basifixed. In female plant 2-4 floral bud arise in the leaf axil, one of which becomes a complete flower; other floral buds fall off, sometimes one or two of them grow a little but never reach maturity, so flower seems to he solitary axillary. Peduncle short 1-2 cm long. Bracts fleshy, leaf, 1-2 cm long, caducous. Calyx united 5-lobed 5-8 mm long; acute, green and fleshy. Petals 5-6.5 x 1.6-1.8 cm, lanceolate, obtuse; stigma lobes fimbriate, c. 6 mm long: ovary 3.5-4 x 1.5-1.8 cm, some plants with female flower at the end of the branches of male inflorescence, producing elongated and smaller fruit. Fruit large spherical or pyriform usually 20-30 x 8-15 cm, turning yellow or orange with yellow or orange flesh. Seeds black, wrinkled, each enclosed in gelatinous membrane, oval in shape, c. 2 mm in diameter.- EOL