Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal

Common Pawpaw; Indian Banana

Tree

Perennial

Vascular

Common Pawpaw is a native deciduous shrub or small tree in the Custard-Apple family (Annonaceae). It is found primarily in the northern two-thirds of Alabama. Common Pawpaw occurs along streams and rivers, in hardwood bottomland forests, and in mesic woodlands. It is a thicket forming shrub from root sprouts. Stems are from 3- 30 feet in height. The young shoots are hairy with dark-brown hairs. The bark on older trunks is smooth and gray in color. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, oblong to oblanceolate in outline, with entire margins. Leaves are pubescent when young, becoming glabrous or pubescent only along the veins on the lower surface with age. The leaves turn yellowish-green before falling in the autumn. Flowers are produced before the leaves. The flowers are solitary and nodding on stalks ¼ to ¾ of an inch long. The flowers have 3 or 4 triangular sepals and 3-4 petals in 2 unequal whorls. The outer petals have recurved tips. The inner petals are ½ to 2/3’s the length of the outer petals. There are numerous stamens. The flowers are dark maroon or purple-brown in color and have an unpleasant odor. The fruit is an oblong-cylindrical berry with many large chestnut-brown bean-like seed. Common Pawpaw fruit are readily consumed by a variety of wildlife. When the fruit are ripe, they become yellowish in color and the flesh has the consistency of an over-ripe banana. The fruit taste something like a combination of banana and strawberry. Common Pawpaw is cultivated as a fruit tree in home orchards, but the fruit are too delicate to allow for mass commercial production. Common Pawpaw is available from nurseries which specialize in wildlife plants, and from some fruit tree companies. Two different genetic varieties should be planted to insure fruit production.--A. Diamond

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Native FAC (NWPL)

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