Carica

Carica is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caricaceae including C. papaya, the papaya (syn. C. peltata, C. posoposa), a widely cultivated fruit tree native to the American tropics. The genus was formerly treated as including about 20-25 species of short-lived evergreen pachycaul shrubs or small trees growing to 5–10 m tall, native to tropical Central and South America, but recent genetic evidence has resulted in all of these species other than C. papaya being reclassified into three other genera. Most of the other species have been transferred to the genus Vasconcellea, with a few to the genera Jacaratia and Jarilla, as follows: