The `Papaya Tree` is a short-lived tree and many people mistakenly refer it as a palm. All the scientists of the world named it as `Carica Papaya`. The tree derived from the family of `Cariaceae`. Both the Hindi and Bengali speaking people call it as `Papaya` and `Papita`. In Tamil language, the name of this tree is `Pappali` and in Malayalam, it is known as `Omakka`. The tree posses two other names in English except the `Papaya`. They are: the `Papaw` and `Tree Melon`.

The `Papaya Tree` is a giant plant and lacks permanent woody stem. It has an exceptionally rapid growth. The tree bears fruits within a year of planting and continue to bear them in such a great quantity that reduction becomes necessary very often. This is a native of tropical America but is now common in most parts of the East. It is a small tree and contains soft wood. The leaves of the `Papaya Tree` are huge and palm-shaped. They stay on some long, vacant stems and form a palm-like clump at the top. The silky bark is marked with the striking scratches of fallen leaves. The male and female flowers grow on different trees and you should have trees of both sexes in order to make the female fruitful. The neutral `Papaya` trees are famous for their ability of producing both male and female flowers and bearing good fruit.

The Botanists also proved that the pollen of hermaphrodite flowers does fertilize the female flowers. The flowers are of pale yellow colour. The male flowers grow in firm clusters of small and perfumed blossoms. The blossoms joined closely on to long, relaxed stems. When flowering, the male `Papaya` creates a gorgeous sight. This time some dozens of creamy sprays cascade from amongst the leaf stalks. The female and neutral flowers are larger in size and grow separately and close against the main stem. The fruits of the `Papaya Tree` are in general similar to a melon. They remain within a soft, slender, green coloured skin. Later, the skin turns orange-yellow in colour. The fruits are a mass of luscious, salmon-pink flesh. The fleshy mass is enclosed in a large and sometimes five-angled cavity. To the walls of this cavity, several round, wrinkled, black seeds remain attached. The size of the seeds is like a small pea. If you do not pluck them immediately when the skin begins to turn yellow, you will find that monkeys, squirrels or birds have got the fruits before you. Some people enjoy the seeds, too. The seeds are hot and spicy. People cook the young fruits like pumpkins and make a good vegetable.

The leaves of this tree are large and smooth and about 30 to 60 cm in length. They are rectangular and pointed and also divided into eight crowded segments. Some of them are subdivided and all the leaves are very deeply lobed. Milky latex that is obtained from the unripe fruit of the `Papaya Tree` has numerous medicinal uses and people consider this as one of the best vermifuges. The `Papain` is also made from the latex and is used as an ingredient in manufacturing the chewing gum. Some people claim that this milky juice has the exceptional property of hastening the decay of muscular fibres. If you add a little of the milk in water then the tough meat will become tender within a few minutes and in 10 minutes will drop to pieces. All parts of the tree have this property and if anyone feed the old pigs or poultry on the leaves and fruit, they will be found to have tender and luscious meat.

The vapours of the `Papaya Tree` are also claimed to have separate muscular fibres. If you wrap the meat in a `Papaya` leaf and roast it, you will find the meat greatly improved. But some people suggest that these statements are a bit exaggerated. The mature fruit is considered to be good for digestive troubles and skin diseases. The seeds are also used as vermifuges. People use the unripe fruit in curries and also preserve.