Pawpaws (Asimina triloba)

[Bayhead]

I am astounded as to how few people are familiar with this common small tree and large fruit.  This includes people who are fairly outdoor oriented and ones who, if they looked closely, are in reasonably close proximity to many examples.  Here, the typical nonnaturalist, but say hunter or fisherman or hiker, has heard of pawpaws (mainly from the old song from grade school: "Pickin' up pawpaws, put'em in your basket") but is not familiar with the tree or fruit, despite seeing the tree on not rare occasion.  Dozens of small pawpaw trees are on the main woods trail at Riverbanks Zoo (Columbia, SC) and thousands are along the main close-in trails at Congaree National Park, to name but two well visited places.  In part this is because the fruit stays greenish and is not easily noticed among the leaves, but still, many fruit are notably large and the leaves are “tropically” large, pretty conspicuous.  Perhaps just we crazies are in the “swamps” (bottomlands really) when the fruit is ripening in buggy and scorching late August or still-hot early September.

Eating of the fruit seem still less known, though I must admit that the scores I have tasted here, though fine, do not come up to the taste of some of the best from the upper Midwest that are now horticulturally propagated and sold.  The types with more yellowish flesh are a little less common and but generally more flavorful, though sometimes somewhat bitter or with an aftertaste.  The more whitish flesh has less flavor it seems.  I enjoy them all and forage at the national park, where park rules (otherwise pretty darn prohibitive about plant-part collecting) allow a gallon per day per person for consumption (noncommercial).

Most pawpaws I see are in bottomland forest, but not swamp.  Even on bottomland I have seen them wilted in droughts.  Some, despite this, oddly are found on valley slopes and I have wondered whether the incised geologic strata in these areas have a clayey layer that shunts a semiperched water table to the valley side there, keeping these soils moister in summer than an upland soil might be otherwise.  More commonly than on valley sideslopes, pawpaws can be found in narrow moist draws rising above the main floodplain.

Nearly all native pawpaws are understory trees.  In large part that must be because they are simply smaller trees, but additionally pawpaw seedlings are said to be intolerant of ultraviolet light in full sunshine for a year or two.

I would love to find some very good to exceptional eating pawpaws from here in its hotter southern part of its range.  The good tasting northern selections are just not all that happy growing here in our heat and especially full scorching sunshine.

One patch of pawpaws in a drier location (normal upland) that I was shown by a botany professor in Newberry possibly represents a natural hybrid of A. triloba with A. parviflora, a species adapted to much drier conditions but with fruit not nearly as large or good.   

Has anyone come across any exceptional pawpaws: size, taste, seedlessness, unusual location? 

[earthgirl]

I have planted two pawpaws that are not at fruiting age yet (unfortunately). I think this'll be their fourth year. I planted a seedling pawpaw as well as a "mango" variety, purchased, I believe, from either Burntridge or Edible Landscaping. Interestingly, the mango is twice as vigorous in growth as the species one. I am in Piedmont NC. That doesn't tell you anything about taste, obviously, but perhaps something about vigor. I have never tasted a pawpaw and certainly look forward to it!

As for in the wild, I have seen pawpaws in pocosin/woodlands in Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern NC. It was in winter. I wouldn't have been able to ID them if not for the tutelage of a gifted naturalist. He pointed out how the black bears run roughshod over them.

I know a horticulturist here in NC who has quite a few different varieties. He is in the coastal plain area. He might have some suggestions for you. In terms of flavor though .... he told me once that he was at a national Fruit and Tree meeting (sorry, can't remember the precise name of the professional organization) at which there was a table spread with a wide offering of fruit from various varieties. He told me he tasted every one and couldn't tell a difference!

Carla

[Bayhead]

"Mango" is a notably good tasting and, as you have noted, very vigorously growing pawpaw, or at least it is vigorous for the first few years.  I have it in my yard in Columbia (SC).  It was selected in Tifton (GA) but reportedly came from seeds from Pennsylvania (a friend of the deceased original grower told me this).  It is not the happiest in my sandy soil (despite being well mulched) and full southern sunshine.  I have heard that same comment about all selections tasting the same.  I guess they do in the broadest sense, but they definitely vary widely in smoothness, mildness (preferably no trace of bitter aftertaste), size, pulp-to-seed ratios, etc., and that is even just among the half-dozen or so selections I've tasted.  Wild ones here in SC vary as well in these characteristics.

Being found in pocosin woodlands surprises me and I am glad you mentioned it.  I have had the repeated impression with large plants in big pots (10 gal. or more) that after several years they are "unhappy" nutritionally (some chlorosis or yellowing) and wondered if some aspect of rich alluvial silt or clay were lacking.  But rich loamy soil would not characterize typical pocosins either.

Lots to learn here.  I'd be very interested in the coastal plain grower's experiences.  I am right on the fall line, but my soil is coastal plain sediment.

[Davidson College]

Here is a list of nurseries supplying Paw Paw trees in 2009. I cannot vouch for any here other than Woodlanders. Paw Paws are notoriously difficult to transplant. Make sure you have good stock to begin and a healthy root system. One to three gallon size is best for establishing a plant into a landscape, though it may take five years or more for fruit to appear.  I will need to once again experiment with establishing Paw Paws on our campus this winter. I will try to keep this board apprised of any progress.

http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/pawpaw/nurslst.htm

[philwburton]

I have obtained about 50 seeds from mountains of Virginia. I will start stratifying them next week. I would like to see some pawpaw trees growing in southeastern n.c. I understand some might be growing in the Cliffs of the Neuse state park. If you know where any are growing please let me know. If I get them to germinate, I would like to swap a few so I can get cross pollination.