Papache

Photo: WendyAvilesR — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Survives zone 9 and warmer

Winter protection required

Harvest calendar

Ripens: Late summer to autumn

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

Fruit is spiny and unassuming outside but prized inside — a black, appreciated pulp gathered from the wild especially in Guerrero, Mexico. Dioecious: both a male and a female plant are needed for fruit to set.

Hardiness

Zone 9+

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Late summer to autumn

Mature size

3–4 m, occasionally to 6 m

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.5–8.0

Environment

Tropical dry forest, thorn scrub

Native range

Central America and Mexico, in tropical dry forest, thorn scrub and disturbed ground at low to medium elevations.

Status

Wild, gathered

Years to fruit

4–6 yrs

Growth speed

Moderate

Spacing

300 cm (118 in) apart — about 9 m² (97 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Glossy dark green, with spines in clusters of four at branch tips

Root system

Deep and drought-adapted, suited to the seasonally dry thorn scrub it grows in; established plants sit out a long dry season without help.

Fruit description

Spherical, spiny, green ripening brown, with black pulp and flat seeds inside

Propagation

Seed, or semi-ripe cuttings.

Pollination

Insect-pollinated. Dioecious — a female plant will not set fruit without a male nearby.

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.