The tree, which is hard to transplant because of its wide root system, should be balled-and-burlapped and moved when it is less than 6 feet tall. The genus Asimina includes the only temperate members of this family. Because they are broader at the tip than at the base the leaves droop, giving pawpaw a "sleepy" or tropical appearance. Planting only one tree can help alleviate the problem, as lack of cross-pollination leads to production of less fruit. Its fruit and foliage produce a great deal of litter. Indians in Louisiana used the inner bark to weave a fiber cloth.Īlthough pawpaw is in great demand, it does have a disadvantage. Early North American settlers used the fruit to make jelly, and the tree's inner bark to string fish. The paw paw tree ( Asimina triloba) is indigenous to 26 states in the United States, growing wild from the Gulf Coast up to the Great Lakes region. Pawpaws grow in the deep, rich fertile soils of river-bottom. The fruit, a favorite food of American Indians, was used to feed DeSoto's conquistadors. Pawpaw ( Asimina triloba ), also known as papaw, Indiana banana, Hoosier banana, Michigan banana, and poor man’s banana, is the only temperate member of the tropical Annonaceae family (custard apple family) and is the largest edible tree fruit native to the United States. The first reference to pawpaw came in writings of Hernando DeSoto's expedition to the Mississippi Valley in 1541. Pawpaws contain more potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and sulfur than apples, grapes or peaches. It is an excellent source of vitamins A and C, and is high in unsaturated fats, proteins and carbohydrates. It also attracts the beautiful zebra swallowtail butterfly, giving added incentive for wildlife lovers to obtain the tree. The fruit attracts wildlife (especially raccoons, opossums, gray squirrels and birds). Fruit with orange flesh is considered the tastiest. Cross-pollination is needed to get good fruit set in pawpaw. On dormant stems, pointed buds are vegetative while flower buds are round and fuzzy. Extract from pawpaw can overcome the ability of some cancer cells to reject chemotherapy. An insecticide can be made from the tree's ground-up bark and twigs. There has been great demand for pawpaw recently, not only because of its appealing ornamental characteristics and tastyfruit, but also because of its potential as a source of organic insecticide and for use in cancer therapy.
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