''Vasconcellea'' is a genus with 26 species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

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 growin ...

. Most were formerly treated in the genus ''

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

'', but have been split out on genetic evidence. The genus name has also been incorrectly spelled "''Vasconcella''". They are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

pachycaul Pachycauls are plants with a disproportionately thick trunk, for their height, and relatively few branches. With certain pachycaul species, particularly the more succulent varieties, they are commonly referred to as "caudiciformes", a reference t ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s 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, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s growing to 5 m tall, native to

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. Many have edible

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

similar to the closely related

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, and also the name of its fruit. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within ...

, and some are widely cultivated in South America. ;Species: *'' Vasconcellea badilloi'' *''

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 ...

'' *''

Vasconcellea carvalhoae ''Vasconcellea'' is a genus with 26 species of flowering plants in the family Caricaceae. Most were formerly treated in the genus ''Carica'', but have been split out on genetic evidence. The genus name has also been incorrectly spelled "''Vasconc ...

'' *''

Vasconcellea cauliflora ''Vasconcellea'' is a genus with 26 species of flowering plants in the family Caricaceae. Most were formerly treated in the genus ''Carica'', but have been split out on genetic evidence. The genus name has also been incorrectly spelled "''Vasconc ...

'' *'' Vasconcellea chachapoyensis'' *'' Vasconcellea chilensis'' *'' Vasconcellea crassipetala'' *'' Vasconcellea glandulosa'' *'' Vasconcellea goudotiana'' *'' Vasconcellea heilbornii'' *''

Vasconcellea horovitziana ''Vasconcellea horovitziana'' is a species of plant in the family Caricaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest. It is threatened by habitat loss. It was formerly placed in genus ''Car ...

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 ...

)

References

Ghent University: ''Vasconcellea''
*Badillo, V. M. (2000). Carica L. vs. Vasconcella St. Hil. (Caricaceae) con la rehabilitacion de este ultimo. ''Ernstia'' 10: 74–79. *Badillo, V. M. (2001). Nota correctiva Vasconcellea St. Hil. y no Vasconcella (Caricaceae). ''Ernstia'' 11: 75–76. * Scheldeman, X. (2002)
Distribution and potential of cherimoya (''Annona cherimola'' Mill.) and highland papayas (''Vasconcellea'' spp.) in Ecuador
*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. * Tineo D, Bustamante DE, Calderon MS, Mendoza JE, Huaman E, Oliva M (2020) An integrative approach reveals five new species of highland papayas (Caricaceae, Vasconcellea) from northern Peru. PLoS ONE 15(12): e0242469. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.024246

*Xavier Cornejo and José Flores Cedeño (2024) Vasconcellea jossei (Caricaceae): A new species of highland papaya with edible fruits from the Andes of Ecuador. Harvard Papers in Botany, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2024, pp. 59–62. Vasconcellea, Flora of Southern America Tropical fruit Brassicales genera {{Brassicales-stub