Carica

Carica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Brassicales
Family:	Caricaceae
Genus:	Carica L.
Species
Carica papaya - Papaya

Buds

Carica is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caricaceae including C. papaya, the papaya (syn. C. peltata, C. posoposa), a widely cultivated fruit tree native to the American tropics.

The genus was formerly treated as including about 20-25 species of short-lived evergreen pachycaul shrubs or small trees growing to 5–10 m tall, native to tropical Central and South America, but recent genetic evidence has resulted in all of these species other than C. papaya being reclassified into three other genera.

Species

• Carica papaya (Papaya)

Species Previously in the Genus

Most of the other species have been transferred to the genus Vasconcellea, with a few to the genera Jacaratia and Jarilla, as follows:

• Carica baccata = Vasconcellea microcarpa subsp. baccata
• Carica candamarcensis = Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis (Mountain papaya)
• Carica candicans = Vasconcellea candicans (Mito)
• Carica caudata = Jarilla heterophylla
• Carica cauliflora = Vasconcellea cauliflora
• Carica cestriflora = Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis
• Carica chilensis = Vasconcellea chilensis
• Carica crassipetala = Vasconcellea crassipetala
• Carica cundinamarcensis = Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis
• Carica dodecaphylla = Jacaratia spinosa
• Carica glandulosa = Vasconcellea glandulosa
• Carica goudotiana = Vasconcellea goudotiana
• Carica heterophylla = Vasconcellea microcarpa subsp. heterophylla
• Carica horovitziana = Vasconcellea horovitziana
• Carica longiflora = Vasconcellea longiflora
• Carica mexicana = Jacaratia mexicana
• Carica microcarpa = Vasconcellea microcarpa
• Carica monoica = Vasconcellea monoica
• Carica nana = Jarilla nana
• Carica omnilingua = Vasconcellea omnilingua
• Carica palandensis = Vasconcellea palandensis
• Carica parviflora = Vasconcellea parviflora
• Carica pentagona = Vasconcellea ×heilbornii (Babaco)
• Carica pubescens = Vasconcellea pubescens (Mountain papaya or Chilean Carica)
• Carica pulchra = Vasconcellea pulchra
• Carica quercifolia = Vasconcellea quercifolia
• Carica sphaerocarpa = Vasconcellea sphaerocarpa
• Carica spinosa = Jacaratia spinosa
• Carica sprucei = Vasconcellea sprucei
• Carica stipulata = Vasconcellea stipulata
• Carica weberbaueri = Vasconcellea weberbaueri

References

• Germplasm Resources Information Network: Carica
• Germplasm Resources Information Network: Carica species list and synonymy
• Aradhya, M. K. et al. (1999). A phylogenetic analysis of the genus Carica L. (Caricaceae) based on restriction fragment length variation in a cpDNA intergenic spacer region. Genet. Resources Crop Evol. 46: 579–586.
• Badillo, V. M. (2000). Carica L. vs. Vasconcella St. Hil. (Caricaceae) con la rehabilitacion de este ultimo. Ernstia 10: 74–79.
• Van Droogenbroeck, B. et al. (2002). AFLP analysis of genetic relationships among papaya and its wild relatives (Caricaceae) from Ecuador. Theoret. Appl. Genet. 105: 289–297.

External links

• IUCN Red List entry
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