Vasconcellea

Vasconcellea
Vasconcellea monoica with immature fruit
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Brassicales
Family:	Caricaceae
Genus:	Vasconcellea A.St.-Hil.
Species
See text

Vasconcellea is a genus with 26 species of flowering plants in the family Caricaceae. Most were formerly treated in the genus Carica , but have been split out on genetic evidence. The genus name has also been incorrectly spelled "Vasconcella".

They are evergreen pachycaul shrubs or small trees growing to 5 m tall, native to tropical South America. Many have edible fruit similar to the closely related papaya, and some are widely cultivated in South America.

Species

• Vasconcellea badilloi
• Vasconcellea candicans
• Vasconcellea carvalhoae
• Vasconcellea cauliflora
• Vasconcellea chachapoyensis
• Vasconcellea chilensis
• Vasconcellea crassipetala
• Vasconcellea glandulosa
• Vasconcellea goudotiana
• Vasconcellea heilbornii
• Vasconcellea horovitziana
• Vasconcellea joseromeroi
• Vasconcellea jossei
• Vasconcellea lanceolata
• Vasconcellea longiflora
• Vasconcellea microcarpa
• Vasconcellea monoica
• Vasconcellea omnilingua
• Vasconcellea palandensis
• Vasconcellea parviflora
• Vasconcellea pentalobis
• Vasconcellea peruviensis
• Vasconcellea pubescens (Syn. Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis) (mountain papaya)
• Vasconcellea pulchra
• Vasconcellea quercifolia
• Vasconcellea sphaerocarpa
• Vasconcellea sprucei
• Vasconcellea stipulata
• Vasconcellea weberbaueri

Hybrids

• Vasconcellea × heilbornii (babaco)

References

• Ghent University: Vasconcellea
• Badillo, V. M. (2000). Carica L. vs. Vasconcella St. Hil. (Caricaceae) con la rehabilitacion de este ultimo. Ernstia 10: 74–79.
• Badillo, V. M. (2001). Nota correctiva Vasconcellea St. Hil. y no Vasconcella (Caricaceae). Ernstia 11: 75–76.
• Scheldeman, X. (2002). Distribution and potential of cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) and highland papayas (Vasconcellea spp.) in Ecuador
• Van Droogenbroeck, B. et al. (2002). AFLP analysis of genetic relationships among papaya and its wild relatives (Caricaceae) from Ecuador. Theoret. Appl. Genet. 105: 289–297.
• Tineo D, Bustamante DE, Calderon MS, Mendoza JE, Huaman E, Oliva M (2020) An integrative approach reveals five new species of highland papayas (Caricaceae, Vasconcellea) from northern Peru. PLoS ONE 15(12): e0242469. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242469
• Xavier Cornejo and José Flores Cedeño (2024) Vasconcellea jossei (Caricaceae): A new species of highland papaya with edible fruits from the Andes of Ecuador. Harvard Papers in Botany, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2024, pp. 59–62.