Plants Mexico

Carica Papaya - Papaya

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Carica Papaya: Papaya, Papaw or Paw Paw (Australia), Mamao (Brazil), Tree Melon.

The papaya is believed to be native to southern Mexico and neighboring Central America. It is now present in every tropical and subtropical country.

The papaya is a short-lived, fast-growing, woody, large herb to 10 or 12 feet in height. It generally branches only when injured. All parts contain latex. The hollow green or deep purple trunk is straight and cylindrical with prominent leaf scars. Its diameter may be from 2 or 3 inches to over a foot at the base. The leaves emerge directly from the upper part of the stem in a spiral on nearly horizontal petioles 1 to 3-1/2 feet long. The blade, deeply divided into 5 to 9 main segments, varies from 1 to 2 feet in width, and has prominent yellowish ribs and veins. The life of a leaf is 4 to 6 months.

The five petal flowers are fleshy, waxy and slightly fragrant. Some plants bear only short-stalked female flowers, or bisexual (perfect) flowers also on short stalks, while others may bear only male flowers, clustered on panicles 5 or 6 feet long. Some plants may have both male and female flowers. Others at certain seasons produce short-stalked male flowers, at other times perfect flowers. This change of sex may occur temporarily during high temperatures in midsummer. Male or bisexual plants may change completely to female plants after being beheaded. Certain varieties have a propensity for producing certain types of flowers. For example, the Solo variety has flowers of both sexes 66% of the time, so two out of three plants will produce fruit, even if planted singly. How pollination takes place in papayas is not known with certainty. Wind is probably the main agent, as the pollen is light and abundant, but thrips and moths may assist. Hand pollination is sometimes necessary to get a proper fruit set.

There are two types of papayas, Hawaiian and Mexican. The Hawaiian varieties are the papayas commonly found in supermarkets. These pear-shaped fruit generally weigh about 1 pound and have yellow skin when ripe. The flesh is bright orange or pinkish, depending on variety, with small black seeds clustered in the center. Hawaiian papayas are easier to harvest because the plants seldom grow taller than 8 feet. Mexican papayas are much larger the the Hawaiian types and may weigh up to 10 pounds and be more than 15 inches long. The flesh may be yellow, orange or pink. The flavor is less intense than that the Hawaiian papaya but still is delicious and extremely enjoyable. They are slightly easier to grow than Hawaiian papayas. A properly ripened papaya is juicy, sweetish and somewhat like a cantaloupe in flavor, although musky in some types. The fruit (and leaves) contain papain which helps digestion and is used to tenderize meat. The edible seeds have a spicy flavor somewhat reminiscent of black pepper.

Papaya is cultivated for its ripe fruits, favored by tropical people, as breakfast fruit, and as an ingredient in jellies, preserves, or cooked in various ways; juice makes a popular beverage; young leaves, shoots, and fruits cooked as a vegetable. Latex used to remove freckles. Bark used for making rope. Leaves used as a soap substitute, are supposed to remove stains. Flowers eaten in Java. Papain, the proteolytic enzyme, has a wealth of industrial uses. It has milk-clotting (rennet) and protein digesting properties. Active over a wide pH range, papain is useful in medicine, combating dyspepsia and other digestive orders. In liquid preparations it has been used for reducing enlarged tonsils. Nearly 80% of American beer is treated with papain, which digests the precipitable protein fragments and then the beer remains clear on cooling. Papain is also used for de-gumming natural silk. But most of the papain imported in the U.S. is used for meat-tenderizers and chewing gums. Also used to extract the oil from tuna liver. Cosmetically it is used in some dentifrice's, shampoos, and face-lifting preparations. Used to clean silks and wool before dying, and to remove hair from hides during tanning. It is also used in the manufacture of rubber from Hevea. Recently, the FDA has cleared chymopapain for intradiscal injection in patients with documented herniated lumbar intervertebral discs whose signs and symptoms have not responded to conservative therapy over an adequate period of time. Fruit and seed extracts have pronounced bactericidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherischia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Shigella flexneri.

Folk Medicine
The juice is used for warts, cancers, tumors, corns, and indurations of the skin. Sinapisms prepared from the root are also said to help tumors of the uterus. Green fruit said to be ecbolic. Vermifugal seeds said to quench thirst. Leaves poulticed onto nervous pains and elephantoid growths. Roots said to cure piles and yaws. In Asia, the latex is smeared on the mouth of the uterus as ecbolic. The root infusion is used for syphilis in Africa. Leaf smoked for asthma relief in various remote areas. Javanese believe that eating papaya prevents rheumatism. Dietary papaya does reduce urine acidity in humans. Flowers have been used for jaundice. Experimentally papaya is hypoglycemic. Inner bark used for sore teeth. Latex used in psoriasis, ringworm, and prescribed for the removal of cancerous growths in Cuba. Latex used locally as antiseptic. Seeds considered alexeritic, abortifacient, counter-irritant, emmenagogue, and anthelmintic. Infusion of roots said to remove urine concretions. Young leaves, and to lesser degree, other parts, contain carpain, an active bitter alkaloid, which has a depressing action on heart. Plant is strong amoebicide. Latex, used as dyspepsia cure, is applied externally to burns and scalds.

The following list of compounds found in parts of Carica papaya is not comprehensive.

alkaloids -- 1,300-4,000 ppm in leaves
butanoic acid -- as much as 1.2mg/kg in fruit pulp
methyl butanoate -- as much as 18% of the volatile components in the fruit
carpaine -- leaves (1,000-1,500 ppm), bark, roots, and seeds
dehydrocarpaines -- 1,000 ppm in leaves
pseudocarpaine -- 100 ppm in leaves
chymopapain-a and b -- latex and exudate
flavonols -- 0-2,000 ppm in leaves
benzylglucosinolate -- found in all parts of the plant, but highest in young leaves
linalool -- as much as 94% of the volatile components in the fruit
cis- and trans-linalool oxide -- fruit
alpha-linolenic acid -- 250-2,238 ppm in fruit
nicotine
papain -- fruit and 53,000 ppm in latex and exudate
alpha-phellandrene -- fruit
tannins -- 5,000-6,000 ppm in leaves
alpha-terpinene -- fruit
gamma-terpinene -- fruit
4-terpineol -- fruit
terpinolene -- fruit
methyl-thiocyanate and benzyl-isothiocyanate

Papaya has been used to treat the following ailments in humans:

Abortifacient -- Java, Panama, Sri Lanka, and Turkey
Amebicide -- Japan
Arthritis and rheumatism -- Haiti and Java
Asthma and respiration -- Mauritius, Mexico, and Philippines
Bactericide -- India
Cancer -- Australia and Mexico
Cardiotonic -- Turkey
Colic -- Malaya
Constipation and laxative -- Honduras, Panama, and Trinidad
Corns and boils -- India, Malagasy, Malaya, and Philippines
Decoagulant -- Trinidad
Diarrhea and dysentery -- Honduras, Japan, Panama, and West Africa
Digestive -- China, Dominican Republic, Panama, and Turkey
Diuretic -- Trinidad
Dyspepsia -- Mexico
Dysuria -- Java
Emmenagogueue -- Mexico and Turkey
Epithelioma -- St. Vincent
Fever -- Java and Mexico
Flu -- Trinidad
Fumitory -- New Caledonia
Hypertension -- Honduras and Trinidad
Infection -- Panama
Intestinal disorders -- Philippines
Kidney -- Cameroon and Honduras
Liver -- Honduras and Turkey
Madness -- Ivory Coast
Milk production (increase/stimulate) -- Indonesia and Malaysia
Opthalmology treatments -- Soviet Union
Pectoral -- Mexico
Scorpion bites -- Trinidad
Smoothe upper respiratory tract -- Nigeria
Toothhache -- Cote d'Ivoire and Samoa
Tuberculosis -- Mexico
Tumor (Uterus) -- Ghana Indochina Nigeria
Ulcer -- Panama
Urology treatments -- Soviet Union
Venereal -- Trinidad
Vermifuge -- Haiti, Malaya, Panama, Samoa, and Turkey
Warts -- Indonesia, Jamaica, Peru, South Africa, and Sri Lanka