Vasconcellea candicans

Vasconcellea candicans
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Brassicales
Family:	Caricaceae
Genus:	Vasconcellea
Species:	V. candicans
Binomial name
Vasconcellea candicans (A. Gray) A.DC

Vasconcellea candicans is a small tree native to the western slopes of the Andes in southern Ecuador and Peru.^[1]

Description

Small dioecious shrub or tree to 8 m high.^[1] Leaves ovate or almost rounded, with a slightly cordate base, margin entire or sometimes sinuately dentate and obtuse or acute apex; palmately veined; glabrous above, hairy below.^[2] Male inflorescence a small cyme with many flowers; tiny 5- or 7-lobed calyx; 5- or 7- lobed corolla; stamens twice as many as the lobes of the corolla, with linear-oblong anthers.^[2] Flowers greenish to purplish. Fruit ellipsoidal, yellow green at maturity, 10-18 x 4-6 cm; many seeds.^[1]

Vernacular names

Chungay (in Ecuador).^[1]

Mito, uliucana, jerju, odeque (in Peru).^[1]

Uses

Edible fruit.^[1]

Cultivation

Propagated by seeds.^[1]

References