The flatwoods or netted pawpaw (Asimina reticulata Shuttleworth ex Chapman) is a small open-branched shrub found in flatwoods and sandhills of Florida and Georgia. There are seven species and one naturally-occurring hybrid of Asimina; all are native to the eastern or southeastern U.S. Unlike other members of the Annonaceae, the custard apple family, the pawpaws are found outside of the tropics. (See Plant of the Week, Guanabana, January 26, 2004)

Pawpaw flowers are strange, nodding structures; the netted pawpaw has one of the prettier blooms. The flower is trimerous; the calyx has three sepals, the corolla is composed of 3 extravagant petals and three inner petals that clasp over the numerous stamens and 3 to 6 (rarely 9, 12, or 15) carpels. The stamens are tightly packed forming a solid hemisphere of anthers surrounding the receptacle. Three or more stigmas emerge from the center of the anthers.

Pawpaw flowers are protogynous [pro tog' e nus]; the female parts--the stigma, style, and ovary--of the flower mature before the male parts (stamens). The flowers are ready for pollination before the anthers shed their pollen. This ensures that the flowers are cross-pollinated; pollen must come from an older flower, preferably on a different plant. (Guide to Flowering Plant Families, Wendy B. Zomlefer, University of North Carolina Press, 1994)

After pollination and fertilization of the ovules, all the floral parts drop away except the carpels containing developing seeds. During development of the fruit, each carpel moves about ninety degrees. If several carpels have developing seeds, each moves so that they are all in the same plane, but approximately equidistant from each other.

The carpels become fleshy berries with the seeds in a row, somewhat like an inflated peapod filled with custard. The mature size of each berry depends upon how many of the ovules were fertilized and are developing into seeds.