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Vasconcellea candicans

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Photo by Dick Culbert, Gibsons, B.C., Canada.


Photo by Wojciech Maksymilian Szymanski.


The flowers by Dick Culbert, Wikimedia.org.

Author:  A.L.P. Pyramus de Candolle, 1864
Family:  CARICACEAE
Origin:  Southern Ecuador, Peru
Soil:  Grit - Mix
Water:  Medium
Sun:  Maximum
Thickness:  30 Centimetres
Height:  8 Metres
Flower:  Greenish - Purplish
Propagate:  Seeds
Names:  Chungay, Mito, Uliucana, Jerju, Odeque
Synonyms:  Carica candicans, Asa Gray, 1854.
Papaya candicans
, Kuntze

This member of the Caricaceae family was given this name by Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyramus de Candolle in 1864. It is found in southern Ecuador and in Peru, growing in a well drained soil with some water and lots of sun. The stem can grow to 30 centimetres in diameter, the entire plant to eight metres in height. The flowers are from greenish to purplish.

The genera name in honour of the Portuguese borne José Mariano de Conceição Vellozo, 1742–1811, a Colonial Brazilian botanist. The species name means 'woolly-white' or 'white'.


Fruits by Dick Culbert, Gibsons, B.C., Canada.