Jaracatia spinosa (Jaracatiá, Spiny Papaya)

One to 33 feet tall tree from the genus Jaracatia and from the family Caricaceae, originated to higher altituded forests of the Atlantic Rain Forest and of the gallery of savannah from Minas Gerais to Rio Grande do Sul, Argentina, Paraguay and the Andes. The tree is diocious, male and female trees are existing. The trunk is whitish and spiny. The leaves are palmated or like one hand with many fingers. The blossoms are small, whitish, the male are appearing in small bunches and the female separated in the leaf axils.

The fruit pulp is yellowishorange , similars in the taste to the passion fruit and mango, contains latex, which burns on the tongue and the lips of some sensitive people, so that for usufruct the fruits should be ripen and also can be eaten totally with the skin, but only eat in small amounts because of the effect of the latex. It can be used for production of juices and sweets. The trunk is used for production of one sweet like the cocada.

Two specimen I got from Helton Josué and his wife on 16th September 2009 and planted them out, best thanks to them.

Jaracatia spinosa from Frutas Raras in our garden in December 2009.

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Updated by Joachim Jaeck on March, 10th, 2010