This article is about the various species of pawpaws in the American plant genusAsimina. For the common pawpaw of eastern North America, seeAsimina triloba. For the unrelated tropical papaya fruit often called papaw or pawpaw, seeCarica papaya. For other uses, seePaw Paw (disambiguation).
Asimina is agenus of smalltrees or shrubs described as a genus in 1763.[2][3]Asimina is the only temperate genus in the tropical and subtropical flowering plant familyAnnonaceae.[4]Asimina have large, simple leaves and large fruit. It is native to eastern North America and collectively referred to aspawpaw. The genus includes the widespread common pawpawAsimina triloba, which bears the largest ediblefruit indigenous to the United States.[5] Pawpaws are native to 26 states of the U.S. and toOntario in Canada.[5][6] The common pawpaw is apatch-forming (clonal)understory tree found in well-drained, deep, fertile bottomland and hilly upland habitat. Pawpaws are in the same plant family (Annonaceae) as thecustard apple,cherimoya,sweetsop,soursop, andylang-ylang;[7] the genus is the only member of that family not confined to thetropics. Fossils date to theCretaceous.[8]
The common name (American) pawpaw, also spelled paw paw, paw-paw, and papaw, probably derives from the Spanishpapaya, perhaps because of the superficial similarity of their fruits.[11]
Pawpaws are shrubs or small trees to 2–12 m (6.6–39.4 ft) tall. The northern, cold-tolerant common pawpaw (A. triloba) isdeciduous, while the southern species are oftenevergreen.
Theleaves are alternate, obovate, entire, 20–35 cm (7.9–13.8 in) long and 10–15 cm (3.9–5.9 in) broad.
The flowers of pawpaws are produced singly or in clusters of up to eight together; they are large, 4–6 cm across, perfect, with three sepals and six petals (three large outer petals, three smaller inner petals). The petal color varies from white to purple or red-brown. Pawpaw flowers are noted to smell like fermenting grapes, or rotting food.
The fruit of the common pawpaw is a large, edibleberry, 5–16 cm (2.0–6.3 in) long and 3–7 cm (1.2–2.8 in) broad, weighing from 20–500 g (0.71–17.64 oz), with numerousseeds; it is green when unripe, maturing to yellow or brown. It has a flavor somewhat similar to bothbanana andmango, varying significantly by cultivar, and has moreprotein than most fruits.[5]
11 species and several natural interspecies hybrids are accepted.[1][12][13]
Asimina angustifoliaRaf. 1840 not A. Gray 1886 – Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina[14] Regarded as a synonym ofA. longifolia by some authorities.[15]
Asimina manasotaDeLaney –Manasota papaw native to two counties in Florida (Manatee +Sarasota); first described in 2010[17] Not recognized by some authorities.[18]
Asimina triloba(L.) Dunal –common pawpaw. Extreme southernOntario,Canada, and the eastern United States fromNew York west to southeastNebraska, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. (Annona triloba L.[24])
The common pawpaw is native to shady, rich bottom lands, where it often forms a dense undergrowth in the forest, often appearing as a patch or thicket of individual, small, slender trees.
Pawpaw flowers are insect-pollinated, but fruit production is limited since few if anypollinators are attracted to the flower's faint, or sometimes nonexistent scent. The flowers produce an odor similar to that ofrottingmeat to attractblowflies orcarrion beetles for cross pollination.[25] Other insects that are attracted to pawpaw plants include scavengingfruit flies,carrion flies andbeetles. Because of difficult pollination, some[who?] believe the flowers are self-incompatible.
Larvae of thezebra swallowtail butterfly feed exclusively on young leaves of the various pawpaw species, but never occur in great numbers on the plants.[28]
The pawpaw is considered an evolutionary anachronism, where a now-extinct evolutionary partner, such as a Pleistocene megafauna species, formerly consumed the fruit and assisted in seed dispersal.[29]
Asimina triloba is often called "prairie banana" because of its banana-like, creamy texture and flavor.
Wild-collected fruits of the common pawpaw (A. triloba) have long been a popular treat throughout the tree's extensive native range in eastern North America.[5] Pawpaws have never been widely cultivated for fruit, but interest in pawpaw cultivation has increased in recent decades.[5] Fresh pawpaw fruits are commonly eaten raw; however, once ripe theystore only a few days at room temperature and do not ship well unless frozen.[5][30] Other methods of preservation includedehydration, production ofjams orjellies, and pressurecanning. The fruit pulp is also often used locally in baked dessert recipes,[31] with pawpaw often substituted in a number ofbanana-based recipes.
^Flora of North America:Asimina triloba."Asimina triloba".Flora of North America. Retrieved13 July 2011.
^Boning, Charles R. (2006).Florida's Best Fruiting Plants: Native and Exotic Trees, Shrubs, and Vines. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. pp. 172–173.ISBN978-1-56164-372-1.
^Werthner, William Benjamin; Werthner, Evangeline Hippard; Kienholz, Aaron Raymond (1935).Some American trees an intimate study of native Ohio trees. Macmillan.OCLC681865854.[page needed]
^Sargent, Charles Sprague; Faxon, Charles Edward; Gill, Mary (Wright) (1933).Manual of the trees of North America (exclusive of Mexico). Houghton Mifflin.OCLC680282467.[page needed]
^Boone, Madison J.; Davis, Charli N.; Klasek, Laura; del Sol, Jillian F.; Roehm, Katherine; Moran, Matthew D. (January 2015). "A Test of Potential Pleistocene Mammal Seed Dispersal in Anachronistic Fruits using Extant Ecological and Physiological Analogs".Southeastern Naturalist.14 (1):22–32.doi:10.1656/058.014.0109.S2CID86809830.
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