I just ran across an article that says there are 8 types of pawpaw native to Florida and that there once was a nursery that specialized in them but is no longer in business. Anyone familiar with these? Sources for seeds? Plants?
2 Likes
That’s the article.
Technically all asiminas are native to Florida (except the natural hybrids), as triloba has native populations in the state as well. Its more than 8, theres a few regionally endemic ones they miss in the article. I have 3 of the more southerly pawpaws, a. parviflora, a. angustifolia, and a. obovata.
These guys carry obovata and reticulata. Sometimes they have a. pygmaea, which is the one I really want.
3 Likes
None of the shrub PawPaw’s are easy to propagate unfortunately. My Big Flower Paw Paw bit the dust after growing well for a couple of months.
I keep watering hoping the roots are still growing.
It is easiest to start them by seed. Good luck finding fruit though.
Stating the obvious but I would just add that Asimina other than triloba are generally regarded as worthless for eating. Wasn’t sure what you planned to do with them….
Worthless is a pretty strong word. They have the same variance in taste as wild common pawpaws, but are smaller and usually seedy. Sometimes they taste good, sometimes they don’t. Their limited range, lack of any real concentrated effort of improvement, and essentially seed only propagation basically makes them bush food at best. But bush food still isn’t worthless.
Regardless, personally I am collecting them because they grow better than triloba does here and they are the host plant for zebra swallowtails. They also have pretty foliage. One day I would like to try grafting triloba onto either parviflora or obovata, but thats still a ways away.
I had an A.parviflora selection that I made from my family farm in east-central AL grafted (on triloba understock) and growing here in KY for years, and it was winter-hardy for a number of years for a friend in Flint MI. Easter freeze in 2007 took mine out(as well as all grafted Carpathian walnuts & kaki persimmons), but it had fruited the year before - IDK if it was self-pollenized or crossed with A.triloba - but there were no triloba trees within several hundred yards. I ‘misplaced’ the seeds in the fridge for 2-3 years, but still got good germination rates when I found them. Gave away several seedlings and planted one here, down by the creek with some triloba seedlings.
I have two putative hybrid seedling trees here, bred by Jerry Lehman - A.triloba X incana and A.triloba X obovata. Jerry hand-pollenated triloba blossoms and taped them shut; so… there’s no guarantee that they are indeed hybrids, but at least one of them (the obovata hybrid) looks significantly different, in leaf form and habit from the trilobas planted near it.
4 Likes
Two of my friends have trilobas grafted onto wild parvifloras on their (separate) properties. The species seem to be graft compatible, but whether they’ll hold onto the giant fruits without snapping remains to be seen.
2 Likes
Wasn’t aware of that. Thanks