Papaw, _carica papaya,_ a genus of the decandria order, class diœcia. The trunk rises in a simple hollow stem, marked in lozenges, to the height of eighteen or twenty feet; the trees are male and female; the leaves are large, and divided into several lobes, and come out upon very long, hollow footstalks, from the acros or summit of the tree. The male flowers are tubelous, and divided into five segments; the calyx small, and the filaments short and long alternately. The colour is a bright primrose, and, seated as they are upon their pale green flower-stalk, they present a very beautiful appearance. The female flowers are also primrose colour, and expand in form of a star, so deeply cut into six segments, that they appear to consist of so many distinct leaves. The calyx is quinquedentated; and from the centre rises the pointal, surmounted by a crest of four leaves. This pointal afterwards becomes a fleshy fruit, of an oblong or globular form, covered with a thin rind, and containing, as in a melon, numerous small black seeds of the pungent flavour of pepper. The fruit, when good, has the colour, and something of the taste, of an apricot; when unripe, the internal part is quite white, and in such state is boiled and dished up in the manner of turnip. It is also cut into various forms, and, mixed with peppers, cucumbers, &c., forms the West Indian pickles. The milk which exudes from it is said to be efficient in making meats tender; and, accordingly, its good qualities are often put to the test by notable housewives, who wish to pass off their old fowls, of five or six generations, for young chickens. From all parts of the tree flows this acrid milky juice, or _albumen,_ which may be used instead of egg in clarifying sugar or liquors. It is also said to be a specific for the toothache. Soursop, _annona muricata,_ of the polygynia order, polyandria class. It is a richly foliaged tree, rising to the height of about twenty feet. The flowers have a grateful but rather heavy odour. The calyx is three-leaved; the corolla is large, composed of six petals—the three outer ones concave and coriaceous, and of a yellow colour; the three inner ones somewhat smaller and spherical. The flowers are deciduous, and when they open they make so loud a report as to occasion a start from those who stand beneath the tree. The fruit is pulpy, and covered with a thick green rind, of the consistence of leather, studded over with green prickles, cone-shaped, and attains a great size; the interior is cellular, and furnished with oblong glossy seeds, which spring from the spear-shaped core. The juice makes an excellent transparent jelly; but in its crude form the fruit is never introduced at genteel tables, although of a very grateful flavour: all manner of stock are fond of it, and the little negroes luxuriate most freely upon it when in season.