''Carica'' is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

s in the family

Caricaceae The Caricaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Brassicales, found primarily in tropical regions of Central and South America and Africa. They are usually short-lived evergreen pachycaul shrubs or small to medium-sized trees ...

including the

papaya The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus '' Carica'' of the family Caricaceae. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within modern-day southern Mexico and ...

(''C. 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 In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

pachycaul Pachycauls are plants with a disproportionately thick trunk for their height, and few branches. This can be the product of exceptional primary growth (as with palms and cycads) or disproportioate secondary growth as with Adansonia. The word is d ...

shrubs or small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s growing to 5–10 m tall, native to

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

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 Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...

Taxonomy

The genus name comes from the botanical name of the fig, ''Ficus carica'', because of the species' leaves or fruits resemble that of it. The ''carica'' epithet comes from

Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the ...

in southwest

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The r ...

(Asia Minor),

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, where the fig was mistakenly thought to have come from.

Species

According to

World Flora Online World Flora Online is an Internet-based compendium of the world's plant species. Description The World Flora Online (WFO) is an open-access database, launched In October 2012 as a follow-up project to The Plant List, with the aim of publishing a ...

, the genus ''Carica'' lists 21 species. Most of the other species have since been transferred to the genus '' Vasconcellea'', with a few to the genera '' Jacaratia'' and '' Jarilla''. According to the

Catalogue of Life The Catalogue of Life is an online database that provides an index of known species of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. It was created in 2001 as a partnership between the global Species 2000 and the American Integrated Taxonomic I ...

, the four remaining species in the genus are: *'' Carica aprica'' V. M. Badillo *'' Carica augusti'' Harms *'' Carica cnidoscoloides'' Lorence & R. Torres *'' Carica papaya'' L. (

Papaya The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus '' Carica'' of the family Caricaceae. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within modern-day southern Mexico and ...

) The species that have since been transferred to their new genera are as follows: *''Carica baccata'' = ''Vasconcellea microcarpa'' subsp. ''baccata'' *''Carica candamarcensis'' = ''Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis'' ( Mountain papaya) *''Carica candicans'' = ''

Vasconcellea candicans ''Vasconcellea candicans'' is a small tree native to the western slopes of the Andes in southern Ecuador and Peru. Description Small dioecious shrub or tree to 8 m high. Leaves ovate or almost rounded, with a slightly cordate base, margin enti ...

'' (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 The babaco (''Vasconcellea'' × ''heilbornii''; syn. ''Carica pentagona''), is a hybrid cultivar in the genus ''Vasconcellea'' from Ecuador. It is a hybrid between '' Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis'' (syn. ''Carica pubescens'', "mountain papaya". ...

) *''Carica pubescens'' = ''Vasconcellea pubescens'' ( Mountain papaya or Chilean Carica) *''Carica pulchra'' = ''

Vasconcellea pulchra ''Vasconcellea pulchra'' is a species of plant in the family Caricaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. It is threatened by habitat loss. It was previously placed in genus ''Carica ...

'' *''Carica quercifolia'' = ''

Vasconcellea quercifolia ''Vasconcellea quercifolia'' is a species of shrub or tree in the family Caricaceae. It is found in Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), ...

'' *''Carica sphaerocarpa'' = ''Vasconcellea sphaerocarpa'' *''Carica spinosa'' = ''Jacaratia spinosa'' *''Carica sprucei'' = ''

Vasconcellea sprucei ''Vasconcellea sprucei'' is a species of plant in the family Caricaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. It is threatened by habitat loss. It was previously placed in genus ''Carica ...

'' *''Carica stipulata'' = ''Vasconcellea stipulata'' *''Carica weberbaueri'' = ''Vasconcellea weberbaueri''

Notes

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
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1752510 Caricaceae Brassicales genera