Asimina triloba

The Pawpaw is a fun little tree (25-35 feet) to cultivate. In a favorable place, it will send out rhizomes and colonize. In spring there are lovely, dark red flowers emerging just as the leaves begin to unfurl. If there is another genetically distinct individual nearby, these flowers will give rise to the wonderful yellow-fleshed fruits. The fruit of the Pawpaw are prized by many small mammals as well as by people. Be warned: some people have a poor reaction (nausea) to the fruit. The colonizing root sprouts are easily controlled in this species, and should not deter a person from having at least one or two of them. They contribute to the beauty of the garden in the fall, with their large, rather floppy, tropical-looking leaves turning strong, bright golden before dropping. When scouting for seeds, we go to the patches of Pawpaw on the floodplain of the Haw River and shake trees with stems large enough to indicate that the tops are in the sun — the key to fruit production. Pawpaw is a larval host for the Zebra Swallowtail and the Pawpaw Sphinx butterflies, and the fruit is popular with all manner of small animals.