Taxon: Carica papaya L.

Common names:

• papaya   (Source: World Econ Pl ) – English
  
• pawpaw   (Source: Pl Res SEAs ) – English (Australia)
  
• papayer   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – French
  
• Melonenbaum   (Source: S. Reichel, p.c.) – German
  
• Papajabaum   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – German
  
• Papajapflanze   (Source: S. Reichel, p.c.) – German
  
• mamão   (Source: D. Groth, p.c. 2005) – Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• papaia   (Source: D. Groth, p.c. 2005) – Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• mamón   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  
• papayero   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  

More:

see MMPND for additional names in foreign scripts

Economic importance:

• Food additives: stabilizer; tenderizer; potential as clarifier & fermentation retarder   (fide Ency CNatIn; New Crops)
  
• Human food: beverage base; fruit   (fide CultTropS)
  
• Materials: chemicals   (source of papain used in pharmacy & perfumery fide Ency CNatIn)
  
• Medicines: folklore; source of chymopapin & papain   (fide Import Medicinal Pl; CRC MedHerbs ed2; Herbs Commerce ed2)
  

More:

View phytochemical or ethnobotanical data from Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

View ethnobotanical data from Moerman's Native American Ethnobotany Database

Distributional range:

• NORTHERN AMERICA (Check conservation status in U.S. & Canada in NatureServe Explorer database)
  Southeastern U.S.A.: United States - Florida
  Mexico
• SOUTHERN AMERICA
  Mesoamerica: Belize; Costa Rica; El Salvador; Guatemala; Honduras; Nicaragua; Panama
  Caribbean: Bahamas; Cuba; Dominican Republic; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Haiti; Jamaica; Martinique; Puerto Rico; St. Vincent and Grenadines; Trinidad and Tobago; Virgin Islands (U.S.)
  Northern South America: French Guiana; Guyana; Suriname; Venezuela
  Brazil: Brazil
  Western South America: Bolivia; Colombia; Ecuador; Peru
  Southern South America: Argentina [n.]; Paraguay

• naturalized in paleotropics

References:

• Adams, C. 1972. Flowering plants of Jamaica. (F Jam)
• Angely, J. A. 1965. Flora analitica do Parana. (L Parana)
• Badillo, V. M. 1971. Monografia de la familia Caricaceae. (Monog Caricaceae) 63–76.
• Correll, D. S. & H. B. Correll. 1982. Flora of the Bahama archipelago. (F Bahamas)
• Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs. (CRC MedHerbs ed2)
• Encke, F. et al. 1984. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 13. Auflage. (Zander ed13)
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop - on-line resource. (Ecocrop)
• Gooding, E. G. et al. 1965. Flora of Barbados. (F Barbados)
• Groth, D. 2005. pers. comm. [re. Brazilian common names].
• Hackett, C. & J. Carolane. 1982. Edible Horticultural Crops. (Edible HC)
• Harling, G. & B. Sparre, eds. 1973–. Flora of Ecuador. (F Ecuador)
• IPGRI. New World Fruits Database - on-line resource. (New World Fruits)
• León (J. S. Sauget) & Alain (E. E. Liogier). 1946–1962. Flora de Cuba.; suppl. 1969 (F CubaLeon)
• Leung, A. Y. & S. Foster. 1996. Encyclopedia of common natural ingredients used in food, drugs, and cosmetics, ed. 2. (Ency CNatIn)
• Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus third. (Hortus 3)
• Liogier, H. A. & L. F. Martorell. 1982. Flora of Puerto Rico and adjacent islands: a systematic synopsis. (F PR)
• Little, E. L., Jr. 1979. Checklist of United States trees, Agric. Handb. 541. (Trees US)
• Long, R. W. & O. Lakela. 1971. A flora of tropical Florida. (F TFla)
• Markle, G. M. et al., eds. 1998. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2. (Food Feed Crops US)
• McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2. (Herbs Commerce ed2)
• McVaugh, R. 1983–. Flora Novo-Galiciana. (F NGalicia)
• Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) - on-line resource. (Pl Names)
• Pulle, A. A. et al., eds. 1932–. Flora of Suriname. (F Suriname)
• Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. (Dict Rehm)
• Reichel, S. 1998. pers. comm. [re. German common names].
• St. John, H. 1973. List and summary of the flowering plants in the Hawaiian islands. (L Hawaii)
• Verheij, E. W. M. & R. E. Coronel, eds. 1991. Edible fruits and nuts. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). (Pl Res SEAs) 2:108.
• Wickens, G. E. et al., eds. 1989. New crops for food and industry. (New Crops Food Ind)
• Woodson, R. E. & R. W. Schery, eds. 1943–1980. Flora of Panama. (F Panama)

More:

Search AGRICOLA article citation database for citations referencing Carica papaya.

Search NCBI's Entrez search engine for PubMed citations referencing Carica papaya. Note: Defaults to a search by genus or species epithet if species binomial not found.

Synonyms:

• (=) Carica peltata Hook. & Arn.
  (previously associated with 2 accessions)
• (=) Carica posoposa L.
  (previously associated with 1 accession)
• (=) Papaya carica Gaertn.
  

Check other databases for Carica papaya L.:

• Flora del Conosur: Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares del Conosur
• New World Fruits Database: Online database from Bioversity International
• PLANTS: USDA-NRCS Database of Plants of the United States and its Territories
• TROPICOS: Nomenclatural and Specimen Database of the Missouri Botanical Garden
• Mansfeld: Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops
• ePIC: Electronic Plant Information Centre of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• AGRICOLA: Article Citation Database or NAL Catalog of USDA's National Agricultural Library
• Entrez: NCBI's search engine for PubMed citations, GenBank sequences, etc.
  Note: Defaults to a search by genus or species epithet if species binomial not found.

Images:

• Embryo drawing: U.S. National Seed Herbarium drawing
• Seed: U.S. National Seed Herbarium image
• Seed: U.S. National Seed Herbarium image

More:

• Check PlantSystematics.org for additional images
• Images Note: Be advised that their identity may be inaccurate. Proper identification of a plant may require specialized taxonomic knowledge or comparison with properly documented herbarium material.

Abbreviations & symbols in GRIN Taxonomy

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