Sugar Apples and Soursops Have Stateside Relatives: Pawpaws

The North American Pawpaw tree (Asimina triloba) is a member of the Annonaceae or custard apple family – the only member that is native to the mainland United States (the eastern part of the country). The other members of this family are tropical trees from the Caribbean and South America. These trees are not the same as Papayas, which are also called ‘pawpaws’ in the Caribbean.

I saw a few Pawpaw trees in New York City recently, labeled in a botanical garden area highlighting native plants. I was curious because I haven’t heard much about them, even though they were described as producing the largest native fruits in the U.S. I was particularly interested because we have other members of the custard apple family – Sugar Apple and Soursop trees – growing in our yard in St. John.

We have also grown Papayas, and the use of the same name for two different and unrelated fruits is quite confusing. Papayas (Carica papaya) are classified as part of the Caricaceae family. Early European explorers/invaders called these fruits ‘papaya’, based on the indigenous people’s name for them, which for some people devolved into ‘pawpaw’. When similar-looking fruits were found by European colonists in northern territories they got called ‘pawpaws’ too. Even though the fruits aren’t really that similar.