netted pawpaw

Photo: Bob Peterson from North Palm Beach, Florida, Planet Earth! — CC BY-SA 2.0 · source

Survives zone 8 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Florida's most widespread native pawpaw, occurring throughout the peninsula in fire-maintained flatwoods and scrub — NatureServe ranks it G4 (apparently secure). The fruit is edible, with a taste resembling mango and banana, but wildlife typically gets to it before people do, and the plant is grown chiefly as a native landscape and host/pollinator plant rather than for reliable fruit harvest. ⚠ As with all pawpaws, eat the flesh only — skin and seeds concentrate annonacin and are not food.

Hardiness

Zone 8–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Sept–Oct

Mature size

Shrub to about 1.5 m, one to several shoots from a deep spindle-shaped taproot

Light

Partial to full sun

Soil pH

5.5–7.0 (slightly acid)

Environment

Subtropical, fire-adapted flatwoods

Native range

Native to peninsular Florida from about Bradford and Hamilton counties south to Miami-Dade County — found in pine and scrubby flatwoods, sandhills and coastal scrub throughout the peninsula. NatureServe ranks it G4 (apparently secure), the most widespread of Florida's native pawpaws.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

3–5 yrs grafted, 4–8 from seed

Growth speed

Slow

Spacing

120 cm (47 in) apart — about 1.4 m² (16 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Leathery, oblong leaves 5-8cm long with pointed, rounded or slightly notched tips and margins rolled under; young leaves have orange hairs, maturing hairless and pale green above with a net-like (reticulated) vein pattern below — the source of the species name.

Root system

Deep, spindle-shaped taproot, as in other Asimina species.

Fruit description

Irregularly shaped, hairless, yellow-green fruit 4-7cm long with shiny brown seeds in two irregular rows. Taste is described as resembling mango with a bit of banana, though wild fruit is heavily consumed by birds and small mammals before it can be harvested.

Propagation

Usually grown from nursery stock rather than transplanted from the wild; can also be grown from seed. Develops a deep, spindle-shaped taproot early, so — as with other Asimina species — root disturbance should be minimized and moisture maintained until established.

Pollination

Pollinated by scarab beetles including the dark flower scarab (Euphoria sepulcralis) and hairy flower scarab (Trichiotinus rufobrunneus), as well as flies — genus-wide, Asimina relies on flies and beetles rather than bees.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.