''Vasconcellea chilensis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Caricaceae The Caricaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Brassicales, found primarily in tropical regions of Central and South America and Africa. They are usually short-lived evergreen pachycaul shrubs or small to medium-sized trees growi ...

. It is endemic to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

.Tropicos entry for Vasconcellea chilensis
/ref> The plant has a

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

count of 2n = 18. It was previously placed in the genus ''

Carica ''Carica'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caricaceae including the papaya (''C. papaya'' syn. ''C. peltata'', ''C. posoposa''), a widely cultivated fruit tree native to the American tropics. The genus was formerly treated as inc ...

''.

Description

Monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy is conne ...

or dioic shrub, deciduous in summer, reaching a size of 1–3 m in height; It has a thick and

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

trunk, the exfoliating bark at the base of adult trees. Leaves very variable in shape, ovate, deltoid, some heart-shaped at the base and divided into 5 angular, membranous lobes; with 3–4 cm petiole. Flowers 5–6 mm long, red on the outside and green on the inside, male flowers are born in small clusters; solitary female flowers. The fruit is ovoid, brownish-green with oval seeds wrapped in

mucilage Mucilage is a thick, gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. These microorganisms include protists which use it for their locomotion. The direction of their movement is always opposite to that of the secretion of m ...

Carica chilensis (Planch. ex A. DC.) Solms by Pato Novoa - 004.jpg Vasconcellea chilensis por Pato Novoa - 001.jpg

References

External links

* * chilensis Plants described in 1864 {{Brassicales-stub