Skip to main content

Mountain papaya (Vasconcellea pubescens)

Dlium Mountain papaya (Vasconcellea pubescens)

Carica or Dieng papaya or mountain papaya or mountain pawpaw or Carica pubescens or Carica candamarcensis or Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis (Vasconcellea pubescens) is a species of plant in the Caricaceae, a small tree, not woody, 1-10 meters high and with many branches.

V. pubescens has palmate leaves with 5-7 lobes, thick pubescence on the underside of the leaf, 35 cm wide, peduncle 33 cm long. Male flowers have stalks up to 15 cm long, female flowers are larger with short, hard stalks.





The fruit is arranged in a spiral along the stem and one tree can produce 50-60 fruits per year. Fruit is 6-15 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, five corners extending from base to top, green or yellow to orange.

The fruit has a sour taste but is fragrant and around the cavity the seeds appear which are encased in a white and watery sarcotesta. The pulp can be eaten raw and is usually cooked as a vegetable.

This species grows at an elevation of 1500-3000 meters, temperature 10-28C, soil with good drainage, can tolerate prolonged periods of drought, pH 6.5-7 but can tolerate a pH range of 4.5-8.4.

This tree lives up to 20 years and is harvested after 1.5-2 years of age. Fruit is a source of calcium, sugar, vitamins A and C. Fruit contains many essential oils and derivatives of fatty acids. Most are 3-hydroxyester compounds.

This fruit is processed as syrup, juice, sweets, jam, canned drinks or cooked as a vegetable. It can also be processed into dodol, pudding and chips. Apart from that, this fruit is also used as a curry mixture.

Fruit is suitable for consumption by people who have weak stomachs because it has properties to improve digestion. The young fruit is dried and made into powder to make skin medicine or cosmetics. The leaves are used as a meat tenderizer because they contain papain for various food and pharmaceutical industries.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Brassicales
Family: Caricaceae
Genus: Vasconcellea A.St.-Hil. in Deux. Mém. Réséd.: 13 (1837)
Species: Vasconcellea pubescens A.DC. in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 15(1): 419 (1864)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Carica candamarcensis Hook.f. in Bot. Mag. 101: t. 6198 (1875)
Carica cestriflora Solms in C.F.P.von Martius & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Bras. 13(3): 185 (1889)
Carica chiriquensis Woodson in Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 45: 30 (1958)
Carica cundinamarcensis Linden in Cat. Gén. 87: 87 (1871)
Carica pubescens Lenné & K.Koch in Index Seminum (B, Berolinensis) 1854(App.): 12 (1855)
Carica pubescens Solms in C.F.P.von Martius & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Bras. 13(3): 185 (1889)
Papaya cestriflora (A.DC.) Kuntze in Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 253 (1891)
Papaya cundinamarcensis (Linden) Kuntze in Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 253 (1891)
Papaya pubescens (Lenné & K.Koch) Kuntze in Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 253 (1891)
Vasconcellea cestriflora A.DC. in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 15(1): 418 (1864)
Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis V.M.Badillo in Ernstia, n.s., 10: 78 (2000)

PUBLICATIONS

Gosline, G., Bidault, E., van der Burgt, X., Cahen, D., Challen, G., Condé, N., Couch, C., Couvreur, T.L.P., Dagallier, L.M.J., Darbyshire, I., Dawson, S., Doré, T.S., Goyder, D., Grall, A., Haba, P., Haba, P., Harris, D., Hind, D.J.N., Jongkind, & al. (2023). A Taxonomically-verified and Vouchered Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea. Nature, scientific data 10, Article number: 327: [1]-[12].

Hammel, B.E., Grayum, M.H., Herrera, C. & Zamora, N. (eds.) (2020). Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica 4(2): 1-524. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Mao, A.A. & Dash, S.S. (2020). Flowering Plants of India an Annotated Checklist (Dicotyledons) 1: 1-970. Botanical Survey of India.

VERNACULAR NAME

English: Mountain papaya, Mountain pawpaw
Indonesian: Carica, Karika, Pepaya gunung, Pepaya dieng
Java: Lintang gantung
Central Java: Carica
Sunda: Gedang memedi

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
Web: https://www.dlium.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium
Labels:

Popular Posts

Kunu buti (Mesosphaerum suaveolens)

Kunu buti ( Mesosphaerum suaveolens ) is a species of plant in the Lamiaceae family. It is an erect, herbaceous annual, growing up to 1.5 meters tall. Its cylindrical, rough, brown or green stem is hairy and white. It grows on forest floors, bushes, agricultural fields, and roadsides. Its roots are fibrous and brownish-yellow. M. suaveolens has single, opposite leaves, stalks 2-5 cm long and hairy. The leaf blades are green, hairy, oval, with pointed tips, blunt bases, serrated edges, up to 6 cm long, up to 5 cm wide, and pinnate veins. The flowers are compound, axillary, in clusters, perfect, and bisexual. The petals are attached, forming a tube, each tip elongated like a spine, soft, 3-10 mm long, and green. The corolla is attached, asymmetrically detached, 1-2 cm long, and purple. The fruit is single, hard, capsule-shaped, hairy on the surface, and green or brown in color. The seeds are round, small and blackish brown in color. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphyl...
Read more

Cockspur coral tree (Erythrina crista-galli)

Velvet coral tree or cockspur coral tree ( Erythrina crista-galli ) is a species of plant in the Fabaceae family. It is a small tree, 5-8 meters tall, with a trunk circumference of about 50 cm, irregular branches, light wood, and fissured, soft, and light brown bark. The taproot is white. The leaves are ovate, with three strands, dark green and glossy on the upper surface, and pale green on the underside. The central lobe is up to 17 cm long and up to 11 cm wide. The left and right lobes are up to 15 cm long and up to 10 cm wide. The flowers are red, arranged in racemes, at the apex, pentameric, complete, and bilaterally symmetrical. The flowers are up to 6 cm long and 4 cm wide. The pods are long, containing about 8 seeds, green when young and turning brown as they mature. The seeds are ovate, flat, and brown. It grows well in lowlands up to an elevation of 1,500 meters, with an annual rainfall of 800-1,500 mm/year, and a temperature of 20-32°C. It thrives in well-drained soils, but...
Read more

Dragon tongue (Phyllodium elegans)

Dragon tongue ( Phyllodium elegans ) is a plant species in Fabaceae, shrubs up to 3 meters high, stems erect or sloping and brown, leaves gathered in three strands and are elongated in shape, flowers grow in rows on long stalks. P. elegans has stems erect or sideways, cylindrical, woody, sturdy, slender, branching alternately, zigzagging, brown, the surface has white hair and the old stems have colored spots. The leaves grow in a stalk with three strands. The leaves are elongated, the base is rounded, the tip is slender, a bone in the middle with several lateral veins, the upper surface is brownish green and has white hair. The inflorescences grow in rows on long stalks. The flower buds are folded and wrapped in two circular leaves, flat, green and white-haired. The flower has a yellowish white color and the base is brown. Pod-shaped fruit, white hair, tip has a tail and 1-3 seeds but generally 2 seeds. Dragon tongue grows on the slopes of sandy, calcareous soils, karst, lots of sun...
Read more