Flora of New Zealand Series

mountain pawpaw

Small monoecious tree to c. 5 m high. Trunk stout, pale. Petiole to 50 cm long, to c. 75 cm long on young vegetative shoots, densely hairy at first, becoming glabrate, terete. Lamina deeply 5-lobed, to c. 40 cm long, ± horizontal, hairy beneath, particularly on the veins, glabrous above, ± glaucescent beneath; base deeply cordate with 2 lobules of basal lobes often overlapping to form a deep rounded sinus; lobes ± ovate-oblong, 1-5-lobulate. ♂ fls in hairy axillary corymbs or panicles, pale green, fragrant; calyx lobes c. 1.5 mm long, oblong-elliptic; corolla tube 1.5-2 cm long, hairy outside with lobes c. 1 cm long, linear and revolute. ♀ fls similar but peduncles short. Fr. c. 8-10 × 4-5 cm, oblong-obovoid, strongly 5-ribbed, yellow; flesh sweet and aromatic. Seed c. 5 mm long, surrounded by transparent aril.

N.: eastern N. Auckland Peninsula at least as far north as the Bay of Islands, Auckland area, coastal Bay of Plenty.

Andes of Ecuador and Colombia 1982

Scrub and waste places near settlements.

FL Jan-Dec.

Mountain pawpaw is commonly cultivated in warmer parts of N.Z., particularly N. of the Volcanic Plateau. It seeds prolifically and the seed is presumably carried by birds. Until recently it has been known as C. candamarcensis.

The pawpaw or papaya is C. papaya L. This sp. has glabrous lvs and is nearly always dioecious, at least in the wild. The frs are very large and at most have small ribs. Pawpaw is too frost-tender to be easily grown in N.Z. except on Raoul Id.