Melon trees

Melon trees
Papaya ( Carica papaya )
Systematics
Eudicotyledons Nuclear eudicotyledons Rosids Eurosiden II Order : Cruciferous (Brassicales) Family : Melon trees
Scientific name
Caricaceae
Dumort.

The melon trees (Caricaceae) are a family of plants in the order of the cruciferous (Brassicales). The approximately 34 kinds are common in Neotropic ; there are only two types in Africa. The papaya ( Carica papaya ) is an important crop .

description

Illustration of papaya ( Carica papaya )

Vegetative characteristics

They are mostly woody plants, small trees and shrubs ; only the Jarilla species are herbaceous plants . The alternate, stalked leaves are lobed or compound.

Generative characteristics

The flowers are solitary or in zymose inflorescences . The species are monoecious ( monoecious ) or dioecious ( dioecious ) separately sexed.

The unisexual flowers are radial symmetry and five-fold. There are five small sepals . The five petals are fused; with a short tube in the female and a long tube in the male flowers. The male flowers contain one or two circles with (each) five fertile stamens ; they are freely fused with each other in Carica or in the other genus at their base to form a small tube, but they are always fused with the corolla tube. The female flowers are five carpels to a top permanent ovary grown; there are one or five styluses, which may be partially fused, there are five scars. Each ovary compartment contains 30 to 100 ovules .

The fruit is a berry .

Systematics and distribution

Habit and flowers of Vasconcellea chilensis

The family area is disjoint . The species are mainly found in Central and South America, in the so-called Neotropis ; there are two species in Africa (only from the genus Cylicomorpha ).

In 2012, Carvalho and Renner presented a molecular phylogeny that includes all species. Most species were placed in the genus Carica until molecular genetic data were available . It turned out that Carica papaya represents an isolated line and thus the genus Carica is monotypical .

In the Caricaceae family there are six genera with about 34 species:

• Carica L .: It only contains one species:
  • Melon tree ( Carica papaya L. )
• Cylicomorpha Urb. : It contains only two types; these are common in tropical Africa.
• Horovitzia Badillo : it contains only one species:
  • Horovitzia cnidoscoloides (Lorence & Torres) Badillo : It comes only in the Mexican state of Oaxaca ago
• Jacaratia A.DC. : The eight or so species are distributed from Mexico through Central America to Brazil.
• Jarilla (genus) Rusby : The three or so species are distributed from Mexico to Guatemala.
• Vasconcellea A.St.-Hil. : The 20 to 21 species are common in the Neotropic and thrive mainly in the northwestern Andes .
  • Vasconcellea pubescens A.DC. : From Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia

swell

• The Caricaceae family on the AP website . (English)
• Description of the Caricaceae family at DELTA . (English)
• F. Carvalho, Susanne S. Renner : A dated phylogeny of the papaya family (Caricaceae) reveals the crop's closest relatives and the family's biogeographic history. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution , Volume 65, Issue 1, October 2012, pp. 46-53. doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2012.05.019
• Angiosperm Phylogeny Group : An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III. In: Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. Volume 161, No. 2, 2009, pp. 105-121, DOI: 10.1111 / j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x .
• F. Carvalho: e-Monograph of Caricaceae. Version 1, November 2013.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} F. Carvalho, Susanne S. Renner : A dated phylogeny of the papaya family (Caricaceae) reveals the crop's closest relatives and the family's biogeographic history. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution , Volume 65, Issue 1, October 2012, pp. 46-53. doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2012.05.019

Web links

Commons : Melon Tree Family (Caricaceae)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files