Photo © 2004 Jim Jung and licensors. All rights reserved.

Pawpaws

Pawpaws are short (around 30 feet) pale-trunked, large-leaved trees of the forest understory. Look for them along shaded creeks where they grow in what appear to be groves but are actually clonal mats - in this case one large root system with numerous trunks. It's for this reason that the fruits are relatively few in number compared to the number of apparently separate "trees".

Pawpaws are the northernmost members of the tropical Custard Apple family. The inconspicuous purplish-brown two inch flowers appear on the naked branches before the leaves appear and are pollinated by flies - which isn't surprising since they have a rather unpleasant smell.

Photo by Jim Jung. All rights reserved.

This was one of the Indians' favorite wild fruit trees producing two to three inch long green fruits. They smell somewhat like bananas, and when ripe are soft, sweet and mushy. They taste "custardy" but have a funky aftertaste. The aftertaste disappears however if you eat several in a row.

This was one of the few tree species that Indians did not remove when clearing their fields. William Bartram describes encountering "orchards" of pawpaws in abandoned Indian fields on his travels through the southeast in the late 18th century. Judging from the amount of seeds found on archaeological sites in our area these were a favorite of the aborigines frequenting our area as well.

Photo by Jim Jung. All rights reserved.

Should you encounter pawpaws on a spring hike, mark the location well and schedule a return trip in late August when the fruits ripen and fall like manna from heaven. Every inhabitant of the forest wants their share of these large, tasty, carbohydrate-rich fruit, which is avidly eaten by deer, turkeys, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, opossums, squirrels and box turtles, as well as humans.

Offsite Links:

• Kentucy State University's Pawpaw Information Website, including links to recipies
• Pawpaw Fruit Facts
• Muffins using Pawpaws instead of fat from Ohio University
• Pawpaw wine
• Pawpaw links and bibliography from Perdue

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