The Vegetative and Reproductive Structure of Papaya (carica Papaya)i

Anatomical and morphological studies of tropical crop plants are widely scattered in journals and reference books. This literature is all too often inaccessible to students and researchers in the developing countries of the tropics. In addition, the structure of many crops has never been carefully studied. These factors present a significant constraint on the teaching of and research in tropical agriculture, since all aspects of agriculture are based ultimately on a firm botanical understanding of the crop and especially its plant structure and function. Therefore, this monograph is presented in an effort to summarize previously published information and to offer new observations on the structure of one crop, the papaya. The format of the present monograph will serve as a basis for what is hoped will be a forthcoming series dealing with different tropical crops. The morphology, anatomy, and cytology of the different vegetative and reproductive parts of the plant are described in detail. The terminology used can be found in an introductory text of plant anatomy (for example Esau, 1977). The author welcomes suggestions or comments that could improve the usefulness of such a reference and could be incorporated in future monographs.