# There are only 3 indigenous fruits in America? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672 "2005-01-26T00:46:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/1 "2005-01-26T00:46:57Z")
Just heard on **Unwrapped** … There are only 3 indigenous fruits in America. Cranberries, blueberries and concord grapes. Surely this isn’t true. Is it? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/2 "2005-01-26T00:52:40Z")
Depends on your definition of a “fruit” and of “America”. Offhand, I can name tomatoes and chiles as fruit native to the Americas. ---
**Author:** ![Mirage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mirage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirage)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/3 "2005-01-26T00:58:27Z")
From [Wikipedia:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit) > [@](#): > > In botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. In cuisine, when discussing fruit as food, the term usually refers to just those plant fruits that are sweet and fleshy, examples of which would be plum, apple, and orange. However, a great many common vegetables, as well as nuts and grains, are the fruit of the plants they come from. Fruits that might not be considered such in a culinary context include gourds (e.g. squash and pumpkin), maize, tomatoes, and green peppers. If you choose the loser botanical definition of a fruit, most of the examples listed above including corn, tomatoes, green peppers, and squash/pumpkins all originated on the American continent. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/4 "2005-01-26T01:06:38Z")
Assuming ‘America’ means the fifty states, you can still have strawberries, raspberries, pawpaws, … ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/5 "2005-01-26T01:06:46Z")
Damn fine question. According to [these guys](http://www.berries4u.com/history.htm) the first European settlers found strawberries when they landed. A kid’s page at the [USDA](http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids/plants/story7/history.htm) concurs, but implies that the strawberries from then were different from today’s American strawberries. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/6 "2005-01-26T01:08:57Z")
Not to mention mangoes, papayas, avocados, varieties of squashes, etc. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/7 "2005-01-26T01:09:11Z")
Goddamn is this a good question! Apparently, the [grapefruit](http://www.grapefruit-diet-plan.com/origin.htm) is a new fruit and originated in Jamaica. I think that would make it the only non-Asian citrus, no? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/8 "2005-01-26T01:11:43Z")
I belive cranberries and blueberries are also a native No. American species, although they have European counterparts. I think the botanical definition would also cover vanilla. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/9 "2005-01-26T01:16:00Z")
My copy of The New Century Book of Facts lists avocado, cashew, cassava, america grape, cranberry, guava, papaw, prickly pear, pumpkin, black raspberry, american and chilean strawberry, and the tomato as being of new world origin. They missed the blueberry, and there are a number of other entries which are somewhat less fruitlike. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/10 "2005-01-26T01:19:10Z")
Concord grapes, as I understand it, are a strain developed as a hybrid (in Concord), not a native fruit. They were the first grapes to grow well in the harsh American environment. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/11 "2005-01-26T01:31:11Z")
[paw paw](http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/pawpaw.html) cranberry blueberry raspberry concord grape prickly pear fruit (actually, those are pretty good…) strawberry (N. America had indigenous variety pre-Europe contact) sumac (possibly other berries as well - there are a LOT of them) A more botanical definition, and encompassing all of North American, would include: tomotoes chilies squash such as pumpkins avocadoes grapefruit (although apparently there is some question…) guava ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/12 "2005-01-26T01:39:47Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Not to mention mangoes, papayas, avocados, varieties of squashes, etc. Mangoes are an Asian species. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/13 "2005-01-26T02:18:08Z")
The [Cherimoya](http://www.tropical.orcon.net.nz/Cherimoya.html) or custard apple, is native to Colombia and Bolivia. It’s darn tasty too! ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/14 "2005-01-26T02:35:46Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > (possibly other berries as well - there are a LOT of them) Two more: salal Oregon grape These are not usually domesticated for their fruit, but the plants are sold as ornamentals. Both are native to the Pacific Northwest and were a significant part of the diet of the Indians in that area. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/15 "2005-01-26T02:39:33Z")
Elderberries aren’t native? I’m shocked. As a youth I picked wild elderberries in areas so remote no rational person would ever have planted them. I suppose they could have sprouted from seeds in bird droppings, or that elderberries aren’t a fruit, but I would bet elderberries are native, and [this](http://www.kotv.com/okt/elderberry.asp) site agrees. ---
**Author:** ![kdeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b487fb/32.png) [@kdeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kdeus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/16 "2005-01-26T02:55:56Z")
Liberace? /ducks ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/17 "2005-01-26T05:19:01Z")
Persimmons? ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/18 "2005-01-26T05:39:59Z")
If we extend “America” to mean North America: Native fruits I can think of off the top of my head: Blueberries Blackberries Oregon Grape (Mahonia) Islay Cherry Wild grapes Elderberry Golden Currant Strawberries (there’s a species native to California’s beaches) PawPaw Lemonade berry White Sapote Cherimoya Persimmons Custard Apple Sugar Apple Black Sapote Salmonberry Thimbleberry Salal Tropical Guava Acerola Capulin Cherry Muscadine Grape Red Huckleberry Indian Plum Prickly pear fruits Serviceberry Madrone (bland, but edible… sometimes a bit sweet) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/19 "2005-01-26T05:47:12Z")
Are huckleberries just considered another variety of blueberry? And by “indiginous”, do we just mean “naturally found in America”, or “not naturally found anywhere else”? ---
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672/20 "2005-01-26T06:54:15Z")
> [@Doobieous](#): > > Native fruits I can think of off the top of my head: > > Blueberries > Blackberries > Oregon Grape (Mahonia) > Islay Cherry > Wild grapes > Elderberry > Golden Currant > Strawberries (there’s a species native to California’s beaches) > PawPaw > Lemonade berry > White Sapote > Cherimoya > Persimmons > Custard Apple > Sugar Apple > Black Sapote > Salmonberry > Thimbleberry > Salal > Tropical Guava > Acerola > Capulin Cherry > Muscadine Grape > Red Huckleberry > Indian Plum > Prickly pear fruits > Serviceberry > Madrone (bland, but edible… sometimes a bit sweet) Off the top of your head? Dang, what if you had a while to think about it? 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-only-3-indigenous-fruits-in-america/286672.md?page=2)