A friend gave me some papaya seeds from an unknown variety.  Two of my trees are producing fruit but the one with the hanging fruit is unknown to me . Please ID .

1 hour ago, mike-coral gables said:

A friend gave me some papaya seeds from an unknown variety.  Two of my trees are producing fruit but the one with the hanging fruit is unknown to me . Please ID .

In the family caricacea, there are only 3 genus; Carica,  Vasconcellea and Cylicomorpha

and in Carica there is only 1 papaya; carica papaya while in the genus Vasconcellea there are 6 species;

Vasconcellea horovitziana, Vasconcellea omnilingua, Vasconcellea palandensis, Vasconcellea pulchra, Vasconcellea sprucei, and Vasconcellea parviflora

and in Cylicormopha only 1;  Cylicomorpha solmsii

So there are not a whole lot of species to choose from. My guess is that it is simply a Carica papaya which grows funny. I see on the Internet that there are several photos of just such plants if you google "hanging papaya"

 

Richard

 

Thanks Richard very interesting indeed !

2 hours ago, GDLWyverex said:

In the family caricacea, there are only 3 genus; Carica,  Vasconcellea and Cylicomorpha

You forgot  Horovitzia, Jacaratia, and Jarilla  are also part of the Caricaceae family.

3 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

You forgot  Horovitzia, Jacaratia, and Jarilla  are also part of the Caricaceae family.

I used IUCN as a source  of info which does not include those geni, However checking The Plant List, I see that they do and I have confidence in The Plant List

so there are a few more species to check

I see that they actually include a genus called papaya with the folowing species

Papaya aurantiaca (Regel) Kuntze	Acceted
Papaya cundinamarcencis Kuntze	Unresolved
Papaya digitata Baill.	Unresolved
Papaya dodecaphylla Baill.	Unresolved
Papaya goudotiana (Triana & Planch.) Kuntze	Accepted
Papaya paniculata (Spruce) Kuntze	Accepted
Papaya parviflora (A. DC.) Kuntze        Accepted

Probably a real good place to start

 

Richard

Carica papaya can produce female, male or hermaphroditic flowers, or a combination. Usually, male flowers develop on long panicles. I suspect that your papaya produces some hermaphroditic flowers on those panicles. Also, hermaphroditic flowers often produce elongated narrow fruits. 

Its Babaco