Pawpaw Freaks
p. 59 · Read in the full issue
From Our Own Correspondent.
Honolulu, Sept. 20.
ROBERT L. RIPLEY (Believe It or Not) recently made the published state • ment that a male pawpaw (papau, in some islands) plant can be turned into a female simply by pinching off its head.
But Mr. William B. Storey, University of Hawaii biologist, has completed a long and exhaustive study of the tropics’ pro lific fruit, and he declares Mr. Ripley is wrong.
Some pawpaws that do not bear fruit are not only males, but sterile hermaph rodites, he says. Pruning does not cause a reversal of sex, but rather encourages the development of reverses within the tree and restores rather than reverses its sex.
If anybody wants to contact Mr. Storey for the next 12 months he will be carrying out advanced studies at Cornell Univer sity, Ithaca, New York State. He’d be interested in hearing about “freakish” things that have happened with your pawpaws.
Mr, C. V. Caldwell was recently trans ferred to Ba, Fiji, as District Commis sioner.