Collection Status: Cultivar is present at AFFN
Planted on Nov 26, 2024
Common Name: Pawpaw
Parental Cross:
Geographic Origin: New York
Finder/Creator: John Gordon
Known Sources: Red Fern Farm, Stark Brothers
Alternative Names:
Notes: Discovered 1982. Selected from Overleese seed by John Gordon, Amherst, NY, in 1982. Large fruit; rounded shape; green skin; yellow flesh; few seeds; matures in mid-October in NY. Per Cliff England: “SAA, SAB, etc. is/was a John Gordon thing. You can Google John Gordon to give you the information needed on all those three letter acronyms.” From his own writings…John Gordon picked these from populations of seedlings he grew out. ‘SAA’ meant ‘Saved As “A”(meaning #1/the best), ‘Saved as ‘‘B’’. ‘Saved as ‘C’’. etc.
So… SAA Overleese was his pick as the best Overleese seedling, SAA Zimmerman was his pick as the best seedling of Zimmerman, etc. John Gordon, living in Amherst, N.Y., contributed a series of varieties whose ancestry can be traced to Zimmerman germplasm (Fig. 2). Gordon gathered seed from trees belonging to George L. Slate of Cornell University who in turn had gathered his seed from trees on Zimmerman’s estate. Gordon named one variety ‘SAA-Zimmerman’ in 1985 and a series of others ‘Pennsylvania Golden No.1’, ‘No.2’, ‘No.3’ and ‘No.4’ in 1986. This series of varieties are noted for their early season of ripening. Three other varieties he introduced in that same year are seedlings of ‘Overleese’, a series called ‘SAA-, ‘SAB-, and ‘SAC-Overleese’. Overlease seedling, large fruit, low seed, excellent flavor, heavy bearing, mid season; Phyllosticta resistance: , Fruit Shape: round, Freestone: no, Seediness: low, large seedsSelf-fruitful: no, Prizes: