Fourteen promising papaya (Carica papaya L.) varieties were identified in a germplasm characterization study established at the Lajas Experiment Station on 7 April 1993. The large fruited (> 2 kg) processing type cultivars 'Villalba', 'Giant Panama Eet' and 'Cartagena' had higher yields than the traditional commercial cultivar 'Puerto Rico 6-65'. 'Yuen Nong No. 1', Tainung No. 5', 'Khag Naun' and 'Solo 40' have elongated fruits of medium size (1-2 kg), and are well suited for production of immature or mature fruit for local consumption and/or export to Latin/Asian markets. Yield of solo type 'Rafael' was not significantly different from that of the commercial 'Sunrise' cultivar, but hermaphroditic plants of 'Rafael' had 99.3% marketable fruit compared to only 78% for 'Sunrise' due to a high frequency of carpellody. Papaya cultivars identified as desirable for home gardens and/or specialty markets include 'Paco', 'Washington 5', 'Cariflora', 'Honey Gold', 'Puerto Rico 6-65 Dwarf' and chlorophyll mutant HCAR 185.