Talk:Asimina

Pollination

The article states that pawpaw needs 2 varieties in order to pollinate, but as I've discovered, not necessarily 2 separate plantings of trees. I bought a young grafted tree, and the rootstock used with the graft put up colony trees a short distance away. The rootstock and the graft are different genetically so the colony flowers are able to pollinate the graft's flowers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.117.159.106 (talk) 18:46, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

But when it comes to seed grown plants, is pawpaw a dioecious species? 67.105.21.234 (talk) 17:58, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Taste

I've never even seen a pawpaw but how does it taste? The mango and banana used in the description taste nothing alike. Does it taste like a combination of the two? - Marshman 17:24, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Yes, or as I think, a cross between a banana and a peach. Some also say a banana and a pineapple, but unlike pineapple it has no tartness or acidity whatever. Which is why it keeps so poorly. It's very moist and creamy. The texture is utterly without grain, unlike a any of the fruits just mentioned. Think of the smoothness of avacado, but juicer. — Clarknova 07:19, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I live in NYC. I know that the pawpaw can grow in New York but I haven't the slightest idea how to get my hands on a it (looking to eat it.) Tell me, is it possible to get some to eat come spring? shadowcat60 07:19, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Just want to say that on a walk from Riverbend Park in Great Falls VA to Great Falls National Park in recently, I came upon several dropprings of pawpaw fruit. Seems the trees were quite profuse in that area, so anyone around here can experience the fruit in any way they like.

Further information

I have read that the Paw paw was widely cultivated by Native Americans throughout the Northeastern United States and up into Canada, and produces the largest edible fruit native to North America. There is a town of Paw Paw in West Virginia and a tunnel on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal called the Paw paw tunnel that are both named after the fruit, apparently. There are many historic patches of Paw paw trees in Maryland on the grounds of historic buildings; I do not know how old these trees are, but it is interesting. I have also read that some grocery stores sell them, but I have never encountered one in a grocery store yet. --Filll 19:43, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

green when ripe

From the article: it is green when unripe, maturing to yellow or brown.

This statement isn't exactly true. The wild ones I have found stay green when ripe. You can see in the photo of the pawpaw cut open that the skin is green. The photo of the pawpaws in the tree could be ready to fall. After they lay on the ground for awhile they turn dark. The way to tell they are ripe is when they start to get soft. Its only a problem if you pick them off the tree. I'll try to find a source to back me up on this.-Crunchy Numbers 05:49, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

In Pursuit of the Elusive Pawpaw

There was a nice story in the Washington Post, In Pursuit of the Elusive Pawpaw that had some interesting information and some good links. ^BlankVerse 20:48, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Insecticidal

I was the one who added the thing about being able to make an insecticide out of pieces of pawpaw tree - I had found something on google saying as much, but I'm sorry after checking it now I couldn't find it again. I do also remember reading about how Native Americans used the powdered seeds to control lice (which I also added) - again I'm searching on Google and can't find it again. What I do remember reading is that there are indeed alkaloid compounds in the pawpaw that do act as an insecticide and are ethanol and methanol soluble - this was how they extracted the compounds in a study on these compounds that I had found on Google. I will check again shortly and add the citations. -EDWIN

WikiProject Food and drink Tagging

This article talk page was automatically added with {{WikiProject Food and drink}} banner as it falls under Category:Food or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. The bot was instructed to tagg these articles upon consenus from WikiProject Food and drink. You can find the related request for tagging here . If you have concerns , please inform on the project talk page -- TinucherianBot (talk) 11:24, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

paw paw nursery rhyme

There is a nursery rhyme about a paw paw patch. I have searched everywhere but no success. PLEASE HELP??!!!!!!!!!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.93.102.61 (talk) 03:03, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Medicinal Use

So... Looks like this article was being used to advertise a cure for cancer. Is this Wikipedia or the National Enquirer? The website that was the source for the claim is registered to the same company as the manufacturers of the cure (Healthy Sunshine). (A WHOIS of pawpawresearch.com turns that up). Because it's not enough just to eat a pawpaw, but only to buy their 'standardized' product. Right. Unless there is independant and verifiable confirmation in reputable sources, instead of advertising websites, then this claim is about as credible as the penis enlargement pills they keep promoting in Spam E-mails. And I don't think they'd count as a reputable source, right? 118.90.99.136 (talk) 05:08, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Is this Wikipedia or the National Enquirer? It's the aggregate of how the contributors collectively build each article. Thanks for moving it in the right direction. --Kbh3^rdtalk 02:46, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for removing it. The policy on reliable sources is at WP:RS and you are right that a manufacturer's web site doesn't quality. Even if it had been a research paper, it wouldn't have justified the text as it had been written (see WP:NOTADVERTISING for example). Kingdon (talk) 01:37, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the additional info. Note, the 'enquirer' comment was simply my astonishment at the claim lasting in the article for such a long period of time, not an accusation to any editor in specific. Thanks. 118.90.3.216 (talk) 08:53, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Cultivation

Patently false: "Asimina triloba is the only larval host of the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly." —Preceding unsigned comment added by Enteredalready (talk • contribs) 06:49, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing this out. The article Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly does mention several other Asimina hosts, and without checking the reference there (and/or others) I couldn't say whether every host is in Asimina, so I removed the word "only". Please speak up if there is any problem with the wording as I revised it. Kingdon (talk) 12:04, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

Faint, sometimes odorless, but smells like rotting meat?

Ok, how can the flowers be faint, sometimes odorless, but also have a strong smell of rotting meat? Someone needs to check up on this. I've never grown or eaten pawpaws, though I have been planning to plant one for a couple of years, now. Still, rotting meat is an extremely fetid, strong odor.

Considering the blowfly is one of the primary pollinators of the pawpaw, I am inclined to believe that it does smell like rotting meat, as the article later suggests. Blowflies primarily feed on decomposing flesh and fetid flowers. Other articles, including the blowfly article, suggest this trait of the pawpaw. I recommend that the reference to faint or odorless be removed, as it appears to be inaccurate when compared to other sources. 75.163.244.110 (talk) 03:04, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

Read again. The article isn't as clearly written as it should be, but it doesn't say the odor of rotting meat is 'strong'. In fact, it refers to farmers deliberatly adding to the smell by placing carrion nearby to attract the blowflies, because it is too faint on its own.

Another important point is that paw-paw (genus Asimina) is far from a singular species (see the species list), so there is variation in flower smell among them. Just more of the confusion caused by giving biota articles the title of common names over scientific ones (imo). Hamamelis (talk) 22:56, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

Chaenomeles, See also

I've been unable to find a reputable source that lists "papaya" as a common name for any of the species of Chaenomeles. Some web pages are very confused, for example [1], which shows a picture of Carica papaya labelled as Chaenomeles sinensis. I would like to remove "papaya" links to and from Chaenomeles, if there are no objections.

Probably better to add a hatnote, using a phrase something like what it says in the first paragraph of this page, where it illustrates that people sometimes get certain Chaenomeles and Carica species, both called "mugua", confused (e.g. "Not to be confused with ... " (?)). Hamamelis (talk) 08:23, 1 September 2010 (UTC)