Tree Species of the Asimina Genus

Picture of a Pawpaw Tree
Common pawpaw (Asimina triloba), showing fruit and leaves. Image use

Pawpaw (Asimina) is a genus of eight or nine species of small trees with large leaves and fruit, native to eastern North America. The pawpaw's are shrubs or small trees, reaching heights of 2 to 12 m tall. The northern, cold-tolerant common pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is deciduous, while the southern species are often evergreen.

Pawpaw flowers are produced singly or in clusters of up to eight together, petal color varies from white to purple or red-brown. The resulting edible fruit is the largest that is indigenous to North America.

They are understory trees found in deep fertile bottomland and hilly upland habitat. Pawpaw is in the same family (Annonaceae) as the custard-apple, cherimoya, sweetsop, ylang-ylang and soursop, and it is the only member of that family not confined to the tropics.

The fruit is a large edible berry, 5 to 16 cm long and 3 to 7 cm broad, weighing from 20 to 500 g, with numerous seeds; it is green when unripe, maturing to yellow or brown. It has a flavor somewhat similar to both banana and mango, varying significantly by cultivar, and has more protein than most fruits.

This page refers to the U.S. pawpaw in the genus Asimina. In some other parts of the world the name pawpaw is applied to the unrelated tropical fruit papaya (Carica papaya).

Facts about the Asimina Genus of Trees

• Genus Scientific Name = Asimina
• Genus Common Names = Pawpaw
• Number of Species in the Asimina Genus = 9

List of Pawpaw Trees, Asimina Genus - All known species, taxa on Earth, organized by scientific Latin botanical name first and common names second.