Climacteric and Non-climacteric Fruit List

The table below has Climacteric and Non climacteric listings as well as flower information for a number of species of fruits. As readers make more information available the list will be expanded. In very general terms a climacteric fruit can be picked from the tree at full size or maturity but before it is 'ripe' and allowed to ripen off the tree. Generally there is an increase in flavor quality, juice, sugars and other factors. Again, in general terms, non climacteric fruits tend to maintain what ever quality they had at harvest without many beneficial changes.

More technically, in climacteric fruit 'ripening' is controlled by the fruits production of Ethylene and a significant increase in CO2 production. Non climacteric fruit produce little or no Ethylene and no large increase in CO2 production. Some fruits are picked full sized and green in color and held under refrigeration with Ethylene gas added to make them suitable for sale. It seems that much of what we know about the ripening of non climacteric fruit remains poorly understood.

Some varieties of different fruit may exhibit a change in ripening when picked but still be mostly non-climacteric (some literature suggests that some grape varieties are climacteric, some citrus are considered better flavored after chilling or storage (some oranges, some grapefruit)). As information is supplied by readers the list will be updated.

CL = Climacteric NC = Non-Climacteric

Latin	Common	Type
Actinidia delicios	Kiwi	CL
Adansonia digitata	Baobab	CL
Anacardium occidentale	Cashew	NC
Ananas comosus	Pineapple	NC
Annona cherimola	Cherimoya	CL
Annona hybrid	Atemoya	CL
Annona muricata	Soursop	CL
Annona squamosa	Sugarapple	CL
Artocarpus altilis	Breadfruit	CL
Artocarpus heterophyllus	Jak Fruit	CL
Asimina triloba	Pawpaw	CL
Averrhoa carambola	Carambola	NC

Bactris gasipaes	Pejibaye
Borojoa patinoi	Borojo	NC
Brosimum alicastrum	Breadnut
Bunchosia armeniaca	Peanutbutter Fruit	CL

Carica papaya	Papaya	CL
Casimiroa edulis	Casimiroa
Citrus aurantiifolia	Lime	NC
Citrus grandis	Pummelo	NC?
Citrus paradisi	Grapefruit	NC?
Citrus reticulata	Mandarin
Citrus sinensis	Orange	NC

Dimocarpus longan	Longan
Diospyros digyna	Black Sapote	CL
Diospyros kaki	Oriental Persimmon	CL
Dovyalis caffra	Kei Apple
Durio zibethinus	Durian	CL

Eriobotrya japonica	Loquat
Eugenia brasiliensis	Grumichama	NC
Eugenia uniflora	Surinam Cherry	NC

Feijoa sellowiana	Feijoa	CL
Ficus carica	Fig	CL
Flacourtia indica	Governor’s Plum
Fortunella sp.	Kumquat
Fragaria sp.	Strawberry	NC

Garcinia mangostana	Mangosteen

Lansium domesticum	Langsat
Litchi chinensis	Lychee	NC
Lycopersicon esculentum	Tomato	CL

Macadamia integrifolia	Macadamia Nut
Malus domestica	Apple	CL
Mangifera indica	Mango	CL
Manilkara zapota	Sapodilla	CL
Monstera deliciosa	Monstera	CL
Musa sp.	Banana	CL

Nephelium lappaceum	Rambutan	NC

Passiflora edulis	Purple Passion Fruit	CL
Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa	Yellow Passion Fruit	CL
Passiflora quadrangularis	Giant Granadilla	CL
Persea sp.	Avocado	CL
Poraqueiba sericea	Umari Roxo	NC
Pourouma cecropiaefolia	Amazon Tree Grape
Pouteria caimito	Caimito	CL
Pouteria campechiana	Canistel	CL
Pouteria sapota	Mamey Sapote	CL
Prunus sp.	Peach	CL
Prunus sp.	Apricot	CL
Prunus sp.	Plum	CL
Prunus sp.	Cherry	NC
Psidium guajava	Guava	CL
Punica granatum	Pomegranate
Pyrus sp.	Pear	CL

Rubus sp.	Thornless Blackberry	CL

Salacca edulis	Salak
Sandoricum koetjape	Santol
Syzygium malaccense	Malay Apple	NC
Syzygium samarangense	Wax Jambu	NC

Tamarindus indica	Tamarind

Vitis sp.	Grape	NC

Ziziphus mauritiana	Indian Jujube

CL = Climacteric NC = Non-Climacteric

Help us improve this table. Please let us know which plants are Climacteric and which are not - send us the latin name and common name and details. We would also like a photo for each fruit - full credit will be given.

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