Poster: Evolution

Abs # 792: Natural History of Papaya and the Caricaceae

Presenter:	Manshardt, Richard M., manshardt@hawaii.edu
Authors	Manshardt, Richard M. (A)   Moore, Paul H. (B)
Affiliations:	(A): University of Hawaii, College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources (B): USDA, ARS, Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center

The Caricaceae, the family of the well-known papaya, has undergone taxonomic revision recently, as a result of new information that has increased the number of genera from four to six, and placed it in the monophyletic clade of glucosinolate-producing families that includes the Brassicaceae. Morphological, reproductive, molecular, and biogeographical characteristics have suggested that Carica papaya, the most familiar member in the family, is monospecific, being distinct from the newly named Vasconcellea species of South America, which formerly comprised the bulk of the genus. The ecology and ethnobotany of the South American Vasconcellea species make an interesting study in incipient domestication, with human utilization of forms adapted to a range of environments from dry coastal lowlands to the frosty paramo in the Andes Mountains. Papaya was domesticated in Central America from weedy and nearly inedible progenitors. It has experienced remarkable changes in fruit size, mating system, growth habit, and flesh color under human selection. The improvement of papaya continues into the present, with active programs in many tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Environmental differences between tropical and subtropical climates have necessitated different breeding objectives in these regions.