The carica papaya, a tree growing in warm climates to the highth of eighteen or twenty feet, with a soft herbaceous stem, naked nearly to the top, where the leaves issue on every side on long foot-stalks. Between the leaves grow the flower and the fruit, which is of the size of a melon. The juice is acrid and milky, but the fruit when boiled is eaten with meat, like other vegetables.

The papaw of North America belongs to the genus Annona or custard apple.