Micropropagation of Carica Papaya and Related Species

Abstract

The genus Carica is a member of the dicotyledonous family Caricaceae that contains 35 species of small latex-producing trees and shrubs. They all have terminal clusters of leaves and most are dioecious (Purseglove, 1968). Papaya, Carica papaya L., also known as papaw and pawpaw, belongs to the genus Carica (Badillo, 1971). This genus included 22 species that range in distribution from Argentina and Chile to southern Mexico (Manshardt, 1992), however Badillo (2000) has recently recommended dividing the genus into 2: Carica contammg papaya and Vasconcella containing the other 21 species. This classification is supported by recent estimates of genetic distance between papaya and related species using DNA markers that suggest papaya should be in a separate genus (Jobin-Decor et aI., 1996; Kim et aI., 2002). Available evidence indicates that the centre of origin of papaya is the Caribbean coast of Central America (Manshardt, 1992; Purseglove, 1968), however the large-fruited domesticated form is quite different to the small-fruited dioecious types that now grow wild in CentralAmerica (Manshardt, 1992).