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Wild Papaya

Jacaratia spinosa

Wild Papaya
Photo: Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, CC BY 2.0

Jacaratia spinosa is a spiny, deciduous tree in the papaya family, native to tropical dry forests from Mexico to South America; the wider Jacaratia genus is also grown locally for its edible fruit and stems. It is a forest tree rather than a garden plant, so it is mainly grown from seed in warm, frost-free areas.

Family
Caricaceae (Caric family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then reduce as it matures, since it is adapted to seasonally dry forest.
Soil
Well-drained soil, tolerant of poor or sandy soils.
Temperature
18–35 °C; protect below 5 °C
How easy
Moderate
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
C. & S. Trop. America
Climate
wet tropical

About

Jacaratia spinosa (known as wild mango, or mamoeiro-bravo and mamãozinho in Brazil, and yacaratiá tree in Argentina) is a species of tree, in the genus Jacaratia of the family Caricaceae (the papaya family). It is found in the tropical dry forests of central and southern Mexico, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Its stem is used as a main ingredient in the manufacturing of candy. Its fruit is also appreciated by many animals including monkeys and birds.

Where it grows

The fruit of the yacaratiá tree is eaten by a variety of animals including lowland tapirs, brown howler monkeys, white-lipped peccaries, collared peccaries, white-eared opossums, Argentine black and white tegus, southern muriqui, humans, and birds.

Other Jacaratia plants

Jacaratia mexicana

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Jacaratia spinosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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