Plant Research

Four-petal pawpaw  (Asimina tetramera)

The Four-petal pawpaw is found only in southeastern Florida, in Martin and Palm Beach Counties.  It is threatened by loss of habitat to the growing population of the region.  Its conservation is further complicated by the fact that the seeds cannot be stored using traditional seed banking procedures.  CREW researchers in the Plant Research Division have developed methods for propagating this species through tissue culture and for cryopreserving shoot tips from the cultures in liquid nitrogen.  They have used the method of in vitro collecting to initiate cultures from a wide variety of genotypes and these are being banked for long-term germplasm storage.  Plants are also being prepared for outplanting.