101/150: Not a banana, not a mango, it’s a pawpaw fruit!
Plantae: Magnoliophyta: Magnoliopsida: Magnoliales: Annonaceae: Asimina: Asimina triloba Linnaeus, Dunal
What do you get when you cross the taste of a banana with the look and texture of a mango? A pawpaw fruit! Believe it or not, the tropical-looking pawpaw tree, which is native to North America, gives the largest tree berry in all of North America. When blossoming, the common pawpaw (Asimina tribola) can give off an unpleasant odour. The overpowering odour of the common pawpaw – similar to the stench of rotting meat – attracts blowflies, from the family Calliphoridae. These flies then unknowingly pollinate the blossom, thinking it is a piece of rotting protein. Zebra swallowtail butterflies also frequent Asimina tribola to make it a home for their larvae. The fruit of the common pawpaw is a delicious one, but is not seen often in commercial grocery stores due to their sensitivity to bruising, and so it is often only found in local marketplaces. Looking for a pawpaw tree near you? Look closer to the United States, or Southern Ontario, under shady oak and hickory trees. #Canada150 #Biodiversity150
Here’s the barcode sequence information for this species:
Process ID: HIMS2180-12