Papaw

Papaw (Carica papaya), a small South American tree of the natural order Passifloraceæ (formerly made the type of a small family, Papayaceæ), which has now been introduced into many tropical and subtropical countries. The fruit is eaten either raw or boiled. The seeds when chewed have in a high degree the pungency of cresses. The powdered seeds and the juice of the unripe fruit are most powerful anthelmintics. The juice of the fruit and the sap of the tree render tough meat tender (see PAPAÏN); even the exhalations from the tree have this property, and joints of meat, fowls, &c. are hung among its branches to prepare them for the table. It bears fruit all the year, and is exceedingly prolific. The Chamburu (C. digitata), another species of the same genus, a native of Brazil, is remarkable for the extremely acrid and poisonous character of its juice, and the disgusting stercoraceous odour of its flowers.—In the United States the name Papaw is given to the Asimina triloba, a small tree of the natural order Anonaceæ, the fruit of which, a large oval berry, 3 inches long, with soft, insipid pulp, is eaten by negroes, but not generally relished by others. All parts of the plant have a rank smell.