Photo: Mason Brock, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Slimleaf Pawpaw

Asimina longifolia

Also called longleaf pawpaw, Asimina angustifolia.

A pawpaw of southern sandhills and pine savannas with long, slim leaves, nodding white fragrant flowers in spring and summer, and edible fruit.

Showy flowersEdibleWildlife value

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 3–6 ft
USDA zones: 8–9
Growth rate: Slow
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Dry, Average
Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges
Native range: Alabama, Florida and Georgia See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Slimleaf pawpaw is a shrub of sandhills, pine savannas, flatwoods and old fields in north Florida, south Georgia and southeast Alabama. Its leaves are long and narrow, and its nodding white flowers are fragrant, with inner petals that may be maroon, red or white. It crosses freely with woolly pawpaw, and the hybrids have showy flowers with pink or red centers. The fruit is edible when fully ripe. Grow it in a sunny, sandy bed or a pine savanna garden, where its flowers can be seen from spring into summer.

Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as a slow grower, like our dwarf pawpaw, about a foot a year. It is a shrub of 3 to 5 feet, sometimes nearly 6, with stiffly upright or arching shoots. The leaves are slim and leathery, 2 to 6 inches long and sometimes 8.

Nodding white or cream flowers 1 1/4 to 3 inches long open from April into July, and into fall where the plants have been disturbed. Their inner petals are maroon, cherry red or white. The fruit is a yellow-green berry up to 4 inches long, ripe from summer into fall. It is edible only when fully ripe, and birds and small mammals take most of it.

It grows on sandhills, in open longleaf pine and turkey oak woods, pine savannas and flatwoods, and in sandy fields and pastures, from north Florida into south Georgia and southeast Alabama.

How to grow Slimleaf Pawpaw

Slimleaf pawpaw grows wild in open pine woods, sandhills and old fields, so give it sun or light shade. Any sandy soil suits it, from the dry sand of sandhills to the sandy loam of flatwoods. Set plants 4 feet apart, and keep each one 2 feet from a wall. It is small enough to grow within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship potted. The long taproot makes moving it hard, so plant from the pot with the root ball whole, in a hole wider than the pot and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Sow fresh seed in fall, three quarters of an inch deep, before it dries. For spring, hold it damp in the refrigerator for 60 to 100 days first. Germination is slow, and these are the figures for pawpaws in general.

Water weekly through the first two summers. Young plants need care to settle in.

Other pawpaws studied cannot pollinate their own flowers, so plant two or more from different seed for fruit. Flies and beetles pollinate the flowers. It crosses with woolly and southern pawpaws where they grow together. Zebra swallowtail and pawpaw sphinx caterpillars feed on the leaves.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (7)

Plan the planting