Chaenomeles speciosa is a arboreal plant of Chaenomeles in Rosaceae. Its height is 5-1m, its branchlets are purplish red, and its leaves are mostly oval. Its flowers are solitary in the axils of leaves, with short pedicels and pale pink petals. The fruit surface is dark yellow and fragrant. There are many kinds of this plant, and there are four common ones, namely wrinkled papaya, hairy papaya, smooth papaya and papaya. Common papaya on the market refers to the last one.

1. Introduction of Papaya

Papaya is a small tree of the genus Papaya in Rosaceae, with a height of 5-1 meters, and its bark will fall off in pieces. Branchlets are cylindrical, with no thorns on them. When they first grow, they have hair, and then they will fall off, and the color is purple. The leaves are oval or oblong with sharp tips. Flowers are generally solitary in the axils of leaves, with thick and short pedicels, inverted petals and light pink color, belonging to a kind of begonia. The fruit is oblong, with dark yellow surface and aroma.

2. Introduction of species

1. Chaenomeles rugosa: This is a small shrub with a height of about 1-2 meters. Flowers are scarlet, reddish or white, but they are rare. Its flowering period is from March to May every year, and the fruit will not mature until September to October. The fruit is spherical in shape, with a diameter of 4-6 cm and a low lignin content. It has high medicinal value, and can be used to make preserved fruits and sauces.

2. Chaenomeles pubescens: This species belongs to small trees or shrubs and can grow to 2-6 meters high. Flowers usually bloom before leaves, and the color is white or reddish, and 2-3 flowers are clustered together. The fruit is ovoid, and some are close to cylindrical, but there is a protrusion at the top, and the surface is yellow and flushed. It mainly distributes in Gansu, Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan and other places in China.

3. Smooth-skinned papaya: This scientific name is papaya, but it is not the same as the common one in the market. Another scientific name should be papaya. It is distributed in many places in our country, and it is very good both as an ornamental flower and as a fruit. It is called smooth skin because it will not shrink after drying.

4. Papaya: This plant is different from the previous three, and it belongs to the genus Papaya. Its flowers are unisexual and bisexual, the male flowers are panicles, the corolla is milky yellow with 5 petals, and the female flowers are corymbs, mostly milky yellow or yellowish white. Its fruit is a fleshy berry, which is yellow when ripe and tastes sweet.