Mexican papaya
Jacaratia mexicana

Family: Caricaceae

What it is like

A small soft wooded tree. It grows 5-12 m tall. The trunk is thick at the base and tapers upwards. It has a few heavy branches. The leaves are compound and divided into leaflets like fingers on a hand. The fruit are oval and 4-15 cm long. There are many large seeds.

There are 7 Jacaratia species in tropical America.

Where it is found

A tropical plant. It grows in dry or moist lowland forest. It grows up to 800 m above sea level.

Countries/locations it is found in

Belize, Central America, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, North America, West Indies

How it is used for food

The fruit are eaten raw or cooked and used in sweet dishes. The starch from the trunk can be used for a kind of tortilla.

It is only occasionally eaten. It is also occasionally cultivated.

Edible parts

Fruit, trunk starch

How it is grown

Plants are grown from seeds.

Plants can begin flowering when 3 m tall.

Its other names

Local names

Bonete, Bonete yucateco, Coahuayote, Cuaguayote, Guayote, K'uun che', Papaya orejona

Synonyms

Carica mexicana (A. DC.) L. O. Williams; Leucopremna mexicana (A. DC.) Standl.; Pileus mexicanus (A. DC.) I. M. Johnst.;