BOTANICAL, INDEX 
51 
A SIM IMA TRILOBA. Dunal. 
PAWPAW OR CUSTARD APPLE. 
HO has not heard of the Pawpaw? It is one of the most familiar names 
for fruit, especially among the people living throughout the entire Ohio 
and Mississippi Valleys; but, common as it is, we venture the assertion that 
only a small portion of our readers ever saw a fruit, much less a flower. 
The name Pawpaw, however, is very indefinite, for there are two entirely 
distinct kinds of fruit known by this name; the South American Pawpaw 
— Carica Papaya — a most delicious fruit, nominally from Peru, and tire North Ameri- 
can Pawpaw — Asimina triloba — the subject of this article. 
The best explanation for its name is given by Prof. Gray, which reads : “The 
popular name of Pawpaw was doubtless given to the fruit of Asimina triloba , from 
a fancied resemblance to the appearance or taste of the fruit, to the true Pawpaw of 
tropical America, (the fruit of Carica Papaya .) Asminier, from which Asimina was 
formed, is the name by which the fruit was known among the old French Colonists. 
( Gray’s Genera.) 
Perhaps, it would not be amiss to try and make a point here, by calling the atten- 
tion of those plant lovers, who are always complaining of hard names, to the neces- 
sity of scientific names to distinguish these fruits; for they are known the world 
over by their local nature names, and still have no relationship, in qualities in com- 
mon with each other, in the natural order of the vegetable kingdom. 
