papaya

a Caribbean evergreen tree, Carica papaya, with a crown of large dissected leaves and large green hanging fruit: family Caricaceae

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

papaya

Grows up to 30ft (10m) High in vitamin A, B, C, carotenoids, fiber, phytochemicals, phenols, enzymes and anti-fungals. Ripe fruit can be eaten with skin and seeds. Unripe fruit is usually cooked. Young leaves also edible and used against malaria. Seeds are anti-parasite and can be ground and used like black pepper. Fruit is high in papain, a proteindigesting enzyme. Green papayas used in some parts of the world as a contraceptive and abortive if eaten in large amounts. Seeds even used for male contraception. Reduces effects of progesterone. Papaya juice used for cancer therapy. Papayas are used for E. Coli, Staph, Salmonella and other infections, both bacterial and viral. Great for digestion, indigestion, gas, heartburn, helps digest food. A great desert simply cut open, squeeze lemon on top, spoon fresh out of skin.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Papaya

(Carica papaya), a fruit tree of the family Papayaceae (Caricaceae). Five to seven large fingerlike leaves on long stems are attached in bunches at the top of a short (4-8 m) branchless trunk. The dioecious blossoms are yellowish white. The stamens are in the racemes, and the pistils, which grow singly, are in the axil. The flowers are either diclinous or hermaphroditic. Although the papaya grows rapidly without special soils, its life span is short and it cannot survive frost. The papaya is cultivated in the tropics; a wild counterpart is not known. Its fruit, which resembles a melon, is used for food, and its milky juice is used to make the enzyme papain.

REFERENCE

Siniagin, I. I.Tropicheskoe zemledelie. Moscow, 1968.

S. K. CHEREPANOV

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References in periodicals archive

In places where other options are not available, the leaves of the papaya tree can be applied in warm poultices on oozing wounds to help clean and quickly close up the skin.

The pleasures of the papaya

(2002) found this mite in the East Antilles, as did de la Torre (2005) in Cuba; in both cases they were collected on papaya trees. These authors did not observe injuries in papaya associated with the infestation of this mite, similar to the present surveys.

Acarofauna asociada a huertas de papayo en Veracruz, Mexico

More recently, researchers have found pollen from GE papaya in backyard and organic papaya trees in Thailand and Hawaii.

Modified stands

"I raised a huge seed bed of papaya trees," Rust said.

A MURDER MYSTERY OF LANE COUNTy

Konno K, Hirayama C, Nakamura M, Tateishi K, Tamura Y, Hattori M, Kanno K (2004) Papain prospects papaya trees form herbivorous insects: role of cysteine proteases in latex.

Insecticidal activity of seed extracts of Carica papaya (l.) against the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)/Actividad insecticida de extractos de semillas de Carica papaya (l.) contra el gusano cogollero Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)/Atividade inseticida ...

You can include a couple of fast growing papaya trees and perhaps a banana tree on the edge of your vegetable plot.

Pakistan: Nature talk: Starting over

The rows of date palms, papaya trees, banana plantations, mango trees are a delight for the stomach.

Game for journey through mini paradise

Along the road from place to place there were houses shaded with Mangoes (Mangifera indica), Taparo (Crescentia cujete), Pomalaca (Syzygium malaccense), Muco or Mamon (Melicoccus bijugatus), Jobo (Spondias mombin) and Plum trees (Spondias purpurea), Papaya trees (Carica papaya), Avocado trees (Persea americana) and an occasional Cotton shrub (Gossypium barbadense).

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I was strolling along the beach in Kerala, India when I noticed a grove of papaya trees on the cliff.

Eat, drink, and be traveling

Usually one dries and stores the seeds to plant in the appropriate season, but our children have had many successful pumpkin vines and papaya trees grow with seed fresh from the cutting board.

Home grown kids: helping children cultivate a love of gardening

To sample the tropical fruits in liquid form we stopped at the Belgian-owned King Kombo distillery (open Mon-Sat 3-6pm), an oasis of manicured grounds and flowers, with cashew, banana and papaya trees. (Discovery Tours' Bush & Beach day excursion is pounds 30, pounds 15 for children - visit www.discoverytours.gm).

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Another village, Nong Khiaw (non KYOO), is set amid hills of banana and papaya trees. It lies a few hours north of Luang Prabang.

Life in Laos: visiting this tiny country in Southeast Asia is like going back in time