Papaya কপল

The papaya is a small, sparsely branched tree, usually with a single stem growing from 5 to 10 m (16 to 33 ft) tall, with spirally arranged leaves confined to the top of the trunk. The lower trunk is conspicuously scarred where leaves and fruit were borne. The leaves are large, 50–70 cm (20–28 in) in diameter, deeply palmately lobed, with seven lobes. All parts of the plant contain latex in articulated laticifers.[6] Papayas are dioecious. The flowers are five-parted and highly dimorphic; the male flowers have the stamens fused to the petals. The female flowers have a superior ovary and five contorted petals loosely connected at the base.[7]:235 Male and female flowers are borne in the leaf axils, and the males are multiflowered dichasia, and the female flowers are in few-flowered dichasia.[citation needed] The pollen grains are elongated and approximately 35 microns in length.[citation needed] The flowers are sweet-scented, open at night, and wind- or insect-pollinated.[6][8][9]

The fruit is a large berry that is generally spherical or cylinder in form and about 15–45 cm (5.9–17.7 in) long and 10–30 cm (3.9–11.8 in) in diameter.[6]:88 It is ripe when it feels soft (as soft as a ripe avocado or softer), its skin has attained an amber to orange hue and along the walls of the large central cavity are attached numerous black seeds.[10]Papaya plants grow in three sexes: male, female, and hermaphrodite. The male produces only pollen, never fruit. The female produces small, inedible fruits unless pollinated. The hermaphrodite can self-pollinate since its flowers contain both male stamens and female ovaries. Almost all commercial papaya orchards contain only hermaphrodites.[9]

Originally from southern Mexico (particularly Chiapas and Veracruz), Central America, and northern South America,[5] the papaya is now cultivated in most tropical countries. In cultivation, it grows rapidly, fruiting within 3 years. It is, however, highly frost-sensitive, limiting its production to tropical climates. Temperatures below −2 °C (29 °F) are greatly harmful if not fatal. In Florida, California, and Texas, growth is generally limited to southern parts of those states. It prefers sandy, well-drained soil, as standing water can kill the plant within 24 hours.[11]