Carica papaya (Papaya)

Papaya is an evergreen tree native to much of Central America. Although considered a Florida native, it was probably introduced in the past. Technically, it isn’t a tree, but rather a very large herb, because its trunk and branches are not woody.

Plants: A small succulent unbranched tree 6–20′ (1.8–6.1 m) tall, with a crown 5–7′ (1.5–2.1 m) around. The trunk shows tiled leaf scars, and the crown is umbrella-shaped. Bark is green to gray or brown.

Leaves: Alternate, palmate, with seven lobes, up to 2′ (60 cm) long, on stalks 2–3′ (60–91 cm) long.

Flowers: Flowers are produced along the trunk. Female flowers are inconspicuous, in small clusters or separate. Fragrant, trumpet-shaped, yellowish-white male flowers bloom throughout the year, in long racemes.

Fruits: Female flowers give way to smooth-skinned green fruits that ripen to yellow-orange, with yellow to pinkish-orange flesh and central cavity of pea-sized black seeds.

Edibility: Ripe fruits and seeds are edible. Unripe fruits contain papain, which can damage the esophagus.

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Rosidae	Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more
Order	Brassicales	Mustard, cabbage, caper, papaya, nasturtiums, many others; most produce mustard oil
Family	Caricaceae	A family of trees native to tropical and subtropical Americas and Africa having milky juice, a rarely branched trunk, and large palmately lobed leaves
Genus	Carica	The Latin name carica, derived from the Greek karike, which was a kind of fig, was given to the papaya, or paw paw because of the latter’s fig-like leaves. Stearns further suggests that the name refers to an area in Asia Minor called Caria, where figs were extensively cultivated
Species	papaya	Probably from Arawakan (West Indies) papaya.

About plant names...