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Planet's Papaya Protected in Hawaii
Collection By Marcia Wood January 14, 2004
Both familiar and unusual papayas from around the world have a
safe, permanent home in Hawaii. They're part of a living collection managed by
Agricultural Research Service scientists
based in Hilo.
Formally known as the ARS
National
Clonal Germplasm Repository for Tropical and Subtropical Fruit and Nut
Crops, the collection includes everything from Thailand's 8- to 9-pound
mega-papayas to Hawaii's widely planted, one- to one-and-one-half-pound "solo"
varieties, each the perfect size for one person to eat.
Other papaya trees at the repository come from Puerto Rico,
Malaysia, Taiwan, China and Australia, as well as from Central and South
America.
In all, the collection includes more than 60 kinds of papaya.
Some are varieties of the familiar Papaya carica that we eat; others are
lesser known, wild papaya species.
Among the most unusual specimens is a papaya relative from
Paraguay, Jacaratia spinosa. It bears small, orange fruit and makes an
attractive, 12- to 15-foot ornamental tree. At four or 5 years, it appears as
stately and mature as other trees species that are 30 to 40 years old,
according to repository curator and research leader Francis T.P. Zee.
Some of the papayas from South America, such as those from
Columbia and Ecuador, thrive in cold weather. So, they're planted in an orchard
about 30 miles from the repository's Hilo headquarters, where the elevation is
higher and the temperatures are lower.
The repository helps ensure that samples of older papaya
varieties won't disappear as they're outsold by newly popular ones. Too,
papaya's wild relatives are protected there because they might otherwise fall
victim to land development.
The Hilo facility, described in an
article
in the January 2004 issue of Agricultural Research magazine, is part of
a nationwide network of ARS-managed plant repositories.
ARS the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's chief scientific research agency. |