Asimina triloba, the American papaw, pawpaw, paw paw, or paw-paw, among many regional names, is a small deciduous tree native to the eastern United States and Canada, producing a large
Asimina triloba, the American papaw, pawpaw, paw paw, or paw-paw, among many regional names, is a small deciduous tree native to the eastern United States and Canada, producing a large, yellowish-green to brown fruit.[2][3][4] It belongs to the genus Asimina in the same plant family (the Annonaceae) as the custard-apple, cherimoya, sweetsop, ylang-ylang, and soursop.
The pawpaw is a patch-forming (clonal) understory tree found in well-drained, deep, fertile bottomland and hilly upland habitat, with large, simple leaves. Pawpaw fruits are the largest edible fruit indigenous to the United States[5] [6](not counting gourds, which are typically considered vegetables rather than fruit for culinary purposes, although in botany they are classified as fruit).[7]
Pawpaw fruits have a sweet, custard-like flavor somewhat similar to banana, mango, and pineapple, and are commonly eaten raw, but are also used to make ice cream and baked desserts. The bark, leaves, and fruit contain the insecticidal neurotoxin, annonacin.
This plant's scientific name is Asimina triloba. The genus name Asimina is adapted from the Native American (probably Miami-Illinois[9]) name assimin or rassimin[10] through the French colonial asiminier.[11] The specific epithet triloba in the species' scientific name refers to the flowers' three-lobed calyces and doubly three-lobed corollas,[10] the shape not unlike a tricorne hat.
The common name of this species is variously spelled pawpaw, paw paw, paw-paw, and papaw. It probably derives from the Spanish papaya, an American tropical and subtropical fruit (Carica papaya) sometimes also called "papaw",[12] perhaps because of the superficial similarity of their fruits and the fact that both have very large leaves. The name pawpaw or papaw, first recorded in print in English in 1598, originally meant the giant herb Carica papaya or its fruit (as it still commonly does in many English-speaking communities, including Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa). Daniel F. Austin's Florida Ethnobotany[13] states that:
The original "papaw" ... is Carica papaya. By 1598, English-speaking people in the Caribbean were calling these plants "pawpaws" or "papaws" ... [yet later, when English-speakers settled in] the temperate Americas, they found another tree with a similarly aromatic, sweet fruit. It reminded them of the "papaya", which had already become "papaw", so that is what they called these different plants ... By 1760, the names "papaw" and "pawpaw" were being applied to A. triloba.
Yet A. triloba has had numerous local common names, many of which compare it to a banana rather than to Carica papaya. These include: wild banana, prairie banana, Indiana banana, Hoosier banana, West Virginia banana, Kansas banana, Kentucky banana, Michigan banana, Missouri banana, Appalachian banana, Ozark banana, Indian banana, banango, and the poor man's banana, as well as American custard apple, asimoya,[14] Quaker delight, and hillbilly mango.[15]
Due to increased interest in the foraging and locavore food movement during the late 2010s and the COVID-19 pandemic,[16] the pawpaw has been referred to tongue-in-cheek as the "hipster banana".[17]
Several tribes of Native Americans have terms for the pawpaw such as riwahárikstikuc (Pawnee),[18] tózhaⁿ hu (Kansa),[19] and umbi (Choctaw).
A. triloba is a large shrub or small tree growing to a height of 35 ft (11 m), rarely as tall as 45 ft (14 m), with trunks 8–12 in (20–30 cm) or more in diameter. The large leaves of pawpaw trees are clustered symmetrically at the ends of the branches, giving a distinctive imbricated appearance to the tree's foliage.[10][21]
The leaves of the species are simple, alternate and spirally arranged, entire, deciduous, obovate-lanceolate, 10–12 in (25–30 cm) long, 4–5 in (10–13 cm) broad, and wedge-shaped at the base, with an acute apex and an entire margin, with the midrib and primary veins prominent. The petioles are short and stout, with a prominent adaxial groove. Stipules are lacking. The expanding leaves are conduplicate, green, covered with rusty tomentum beneath, and hairy above; when fully grown they are smooth, dark green above, and paler beneath. When bruised, the leaves have a disagreeable odor similar to a green bell pepper. In autumn, the leaves are a rusty yellow, allowing pawpaw groves to be spotted from a long distance.[7][10][21]
Pawpaw flowers are perfect, about 1–2 in (3–5 cm) across, rich red-purple or maroon when mature, with three sepals and six petals. They are borne singly on stout, hairy, axillary peduncles. The flowers are produced in early spring at the same time as or slightly before the new leaves appear, and have a faint fetid or yeasty smell.[7][10][21][22]
The fruit of the pawpaw is a large, yellowish-green to brown berry, 2–6 in (5–15 cm) long and 1–3 in (3–8 cm) broad, weighing from 0.7–18 oz (20–510 g), containing several brown or black seeds 1⁄2–1 in (15–25 mm) in diameter embedded in the soft, edible fruit pulp. The conspicuous fruits begin developing after the plants flower; they are initially green, maturing by September or October to yellow or brown. When mature, the heavy fruits bend the weak branches down.[7][10][21]
Other characteristics:
The pawpaw is native to the Eastern, Southern, and Midwestern United States and adjacent Ontario, Canada, from New York west to southeastern Nebraska, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas.[7][25][26]
The tree commonly grows in floodplains and shady, rich bottomlands, where it often forms a dense, clonally spreading undergrowth in the forest, often appearing as a patch or thicket of individual, small, slender trees. Pawpaws are not the first to colonize a disturbed site (arriving roughly four years after a clearcut), but may become dominant and slow the establishment of oaks and hickories. Although shade-tolerant, pawpaws do not persist in undisturbed old growth forest. Pawpaws spread locally primarily by root suckers; sexual reproduction by seed does also occur, but at a fairly low rate.[27] ″ Pawpaw flowers are insect-pollinated, but fruit production is sometimes limited as few if any pollinators are attracted to the flower's faint, or sometimes nonexistent scent.[28] The flowers produce an odor similar to that of rotting meat to attract blowflies or carrion beetles for cross-pollination. Other insects that are attracted to pawpaw flowers include scavenging fruit flies, carrion flies, and beetles. Because of irregular fruit production, some believe pawpaw plants are self-incompatible, requiring cross-pollination between trees of different clones (patches).[28]
The fruits of the pawpaw are eaten by a variety of mammals, including raccoons, gray foxes, opossums, squirrels, and black bears.[27]
The unpleasant smelling leaves, twigs, and bark of pawpaws contain natural insecticides known as acetogenins.[29] Pawpaw leaves and twigs are seldom consumed by rabbits, deer, or goats,[30] or by many insects.[7] However, mules have been seen eating pawpaw leaves in Maryland.[31]
Larvae of the zebra swallowtail (Protographium marcellus), a butterfly, feed exclusively on young leaves of A. triloba and various other pawpaw (Asimina) species, but never occur in great numbers on the plants.[30] Chemicals in the pawpaw leaves confer protection from predation throughout the butterflies' lives, as trace amounts of acetogenins remain present, making them unpalatable to birds and other predators.[32]
On a global (range-wide) scale, the common pawpaw (A. triloba) has a NatureServe global conservation rank of G5 (very common). In the United States, the species has an N5 (very common), but is considered a threatened species in New York, and an endangered species in New Jersey. In Canada, where the species is found only in portions of southern Ontario, it has a rank of N3 (vulnerable), and a NatureServe subnational conservation rank of S3 (vulnerable) in Ontario. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has given the species a general status of "Sensitive", and its populations there are monitored.
In areas in which deer populations are dense, pawpaws appear to be becoming more abundant locally, since the deer avoid them, but consume seedlings of most other woody plants.[31]
The natural seed dispersal of the common pawpaw in North America, prior to the ice ages and lasting until roughly 10,000 years ago, occurred via the dung of certain megafauna until they became extinct during the Quaternary extinction event[33] - a parallel case in South and Central America being that of the avocado.[34][35] After the arrival of humans and the subsequent extinction of megafauna that were distributing A. triloba, the probable distribution of these large fruit-bearing plants has been by humans.[33]
The earliest documented mention of pawpaws is in the 1541 report of the Spanish de Soto expedition, who found Native Americans east of the Mississippi River cultivating what some have identified as the pawpaw.[36] The Lewis and Clark Expedition consumed pawpaws during their travels.[36] Thomas Jefferson planted it at Monticello, his home in Virginia.[36] Legend has it that chilled pawpaw fruit was a favorite dessert of George Washington.[37]
Kentucky State University (KSU) has the only full-time pawpaw research program in the world; it was started in 1990 with the aim of developing pawpaw as a new tree-fruit crop for Kentucky. Pawpaw is the largest native fruit in North America and has very few diseases compared to other orchard crops. KSU is the site of the USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Asimina species and the pawpaw orchards at KSU contain over 1,700 trees. Research activities include germplasm collection and variety trials, and efforts are directed towards improving propagation, understanding fruit ripening and storage, and developing orchard management practices. Cultivation is best in hardiness zones 5-9 and trees take 7-8 years from seedling to fruiting. KSU has created the three cultivars KSU-'Atwood', KSU-'Benson', and KSU-'Chappell', with foci on better flavors, higher yields, vigorous plants, and low seed-to-pulp ratios.[38][5][39][40][41][42]
In cultivation, lack of successful pollination is the most common cause of poor fruiting. Cultivation is best in hardiness zones 5-9[5] and trees take 7-8 years from seedling to fruiting. Cross-pollination of at least two different genetic varieties of the plant is recommended,[7] and growers often resort to hand pollination or to use of pollinator attractants such as spraying fish emulsion or hanging chicken necks or other meat near the open flowers to attract pollinators. While pawpaws are larval hosts for the zebra swallowtail butterfly, these caterpillars are usually present only at low density, and not detrimental to the foliage of the trees.[30]
Pawpaws have never been cultivated for their fruits on the scale of apples or peaches, primarily because pawpaw fruits ripen to the point of fermentation soon after they are picked, and only frozen fruit stores or ships well. Other methods of preservation include dehydration, production of jams or jellies, and pressure canning (using the numerical values for bananas).
Cultivation of pawpaws for fruit production has attracted interest, particularly among organic growers, as a fruit with few to no pests that can successfully be grown in its native environment without pesticides. The commercial cultivation and harvesting of pawpaws is strong in southeastern Ohio[43] and also being explored in Kentucky[7] and Maryland,[31] as well as various areas outside the species' native range, including California,[30] the Pacific Northwest,[30] and Massachusetts.[44] The pawpaw is used for landscaping due to its distinctive growth habit, the appeal of its fresh fruit, and its relatively low maintenance needs once established.[22]
Trees are easily grown from seed. Seeds should not be dried out, as they lose viability if they dehydrate to 5% moisture.[45] The seeds need to be stratified by moist cold storage for 60-100 days at 35–45 °F (2–7 °C) (some publications suggest 90-120 days).[45][41][40] They will lose their viability if stored for 3 years or more; some seeds survive if stored for 2 years. Germination is hypogeal and cotyledons remain within the seed coat. Strictly speaking, hypogeal means the cotyledons stay in the soil, acting as a food store for the seedling until the plumule emerges from the soil on the epicotyl or true stem. However, pawpaw seeds have occasionally been observed to emerge from the ground and form the true stem and plumule above the ground.
Propagation using cuttings has generally not been successful.
Desirable cultivars are propagated by chip budding or whip grafting onto a rootstock. Pawpaw seeds do not grow "true to type" — each individual seed in fruit is genetically different from the others and from its parent tree. Purchased cultivars do not produce seeds true to type, either, which is why cultivars are all grafted trees. Root sucker seedlings, however, are all genetically identical to their host.[41][40]
Commercial nurseries usually ship seedlings in containers, usually grafted cultivars, but other nurseries such as the Kentucky Division of Forestry ship bare-root seedlings for reforestation projects and area homeowners.[46][40]
Harvesting seedlings from the forest floor is tricky because most forest-floor seedlings are actually root suckers with few roots, and those seedlings that did grow from seed have deep taproots.[41][40]
Blowflies, such as C. vomitoria, are known pollinators of these plants.
| Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |
|---|---|
|
Carbohydrates
|
18.8 g
|
| Dietary fiber | 2.6 g |
|
Fat
|
1.2 g
|
|
Protein
|
1.2 g
|
| Vitamins | Quantity
%DV†
|
| Vitamin A equiv. |
11%
87 μg |
| Thiamine (B1) |
1%
0.01 mg |
| Riboflavin (B2) |
8%
0.09 mg |
| Niacin (B3) |
7%
1.1 mg |
| Vitamin C |
22%
18.3 mg |
| Minerals | Quantity
%DV†
|
| Calcium |
6%
63 mg |
| Iron |
54%
7 mg |
| Magnesium |
32%
113 mg |
| Manganese |
124%
2.6 mg |
| Phosphorus |
7%
47 mg |
| Potassium |
7%
345 mg |
| Zinc |
9%
0.9 mg |
Analysis from Kentucky State University Pawpaw Program
|
|
|
|
| †Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults. | |
As described by horticulturist Barbara Damrosch, the fruit of the pawpaw "looks a bit like mango, but with pale yellow, custardy, spoonable flesh and black, easy-to-remove seeds."[44] Wild-collected pawpaw fruits, ripe in late August to mid-September, have long been a favorite treat throughout the tree's extensive native range in eastern North America, and on occasion are sold locally at farmers' markets.[7][44] Pawpaw fruits have a sweet, custard-like flavor somewhat similar to banana, mango, and cantaloupe,[7][10] varying significantly by source or cultivar,[7] with more protein than most fruits.[7] Nineteenth-century American agronomist E. Lewis Sturtevant described pawpaws as
... a natural custard, too luscious for the relish of most people[31]
Ohio botanist William B. Werthner noted that
The fruit ... has a tangy wild-wood flavor peculiarly its own. It is sweet, yet rather cloying to the taste and a wee bit puckery – only a boy can eat more than one at a time.[10]
Fresh fruits of the pawpaw are commonly eaten raw, either chilled or at room temperature. However, they can be kept only 2–3 days at room temperature, or about a week if refrigerated.[22][49] The easily bruised pawpaw fruits do not ship well unless frozen.[7][44] Where pawpaws grow, the fruit pulp is also often used locally in baked dessert recipes, with pawpaw often substituted with volumetric equivalency in many banana-based recipes. Pawpaws may also be blended into ice cream[22] or included in pancakes.[22]
According to a report from the KSU Pawpaw Program (right table), raw pawpaw (with skin) is 19% carbohydrates, 1% protein, 1% fat, and 79% water (estimated). In a 100-g reference amount, the raw fruit provides 80 Calories and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin C (22% DV), magnesium (32% DV), iron (54% DV), and manganese (124% DV). The fruit also contains a moderate amount of vitamin A (11% DV).
Phytochemical extracts of the leaves and fruit contain acetogenins, including the neurotoxin annonacin.[50] The seeds and bark contain the chemical asimitrin[51] and other acetogenins, including asimin, asiminacin and asiminecin.[50][52]
Due to the presence of acetogenins, the leaves, twigs, and bark of pawpaw trees can be used to make an organic insecticide.[29] The only insect species immune to these insecticidal compounds is the zebra swallowtail butterfly (Protographium marcellus), whose larvae feed on the leaves of various species of Asimina, conferring protection from predation throughout the butterflies' lives, as trace amounts of acetogenins remain present, making them unpalatable to birds and other predators.[32]
The tough, fibrous inner bark of the pawpaw was used by Native Americans and settlers in the Midwest for making ropes, fishing nets, and mats,[10][31] and for stringing fish.[11]
Pawpaw logs have been used for split-rail fences in Arkansas.[10]
The hard, brown, shiny lima-bean-sized seeds were sometimes carried as pocket pieces in Ohio.[10]
A traditional American folk song portrays wild harvesting of pawpaws; Arty Schronce of the Georgia Department of Agriculture gives these lyrics:[22]
Where, oh where is dear little Nellie?
Where, oh where is dear little Nellie?
Where, oh where is dear little Nellie?
Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch
Pickin' up pawpaws, puttin' 'em in your pocket
Pickin' up pawpaws, puttin' 'em in your pocket
Pickin' up pawpaws, puttin' 'em in your pocket
Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch
He notes that "picking up pawpaws" refers to gathering the ripe, fallen fruit from beneath the trees, and that the "pocket" in the song is that of an apron or similar tie-on pocket, not a modern pants or blue-jeans pocket, into which pawpaws would hardly fit.[22] A "pawpaw patch" refers to the plant's characteristic patch-forming clonal growth habit.
The pawpaw is the basis for various place and school names in the United States, almost all using the older spelling variant "paw paw".
To find the tracking number, see picture number 2
Important notice for buyers from Brazil and Mexico:
1. Remember that we are sending the shipment as a registered shipment (with signature confirmation) and that it can be given only by the one to whom the shipment is addressed, and that it must be signed by this person.
2. Ordering:
Always write your mobile number with the country code. Sample: +365 456 7686 576
You will receive an email notification for each step regarding your order. If you do not receive the notification, check your Spam / Junk folder, or contact your Email provider.
Once we have sent your order, you will be able to find a shipment tracking number in your order history. Keep tracking of your order using the tracking number (we cannot do that for you).
Be sure to register a valid e-mail address. You will receive notification of your order at this email address.
3. Please do not order from our site if you want to receive a shipment in a Post office box, or if you are not at home. If you do order and the shipping address is a P.O. box, and you don't get your package or the package gets lost, you lose the right to a refund.
Do not make an order from our site and leave a message: "Leave the parcel at my neighbor's house if I am not at home (read 1.) (We cannot do it)."
4. If your package comes back to us, we need to pay a return shipping fee. This means that if you want us to re-send your package, you have to pay the return shipping fee as well as the postage for sending it again.
5. If you see that tracking shows that the shipment is still in the place from where it was sent, it means only that the shipment is in transit, and other post offices and countries where the shipment is currently located do not provide data. We advise you in this case to ALWAYS CONTACT your post with a tracking number and ask them about your package.
We are not a post, so we cannot give you an answer where your parcel is located, even post cannot tell you this so long is shipment in transit.
WE ARE NOT A POST AND NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DELIVERY TIMES.
First of all, keep in mind that shipments around the world are delayed due to the situation with the coronavirus.
If you didn't get your package, We can submit a request for investigation only after 30 days have passed from the date of sending. That's why we recommend Insured shipping.
1. Priority delivery (with priority order processing):
Shipped within 1-7 business days maximum. (In some cases, there may be a delay in delivery with a delay of 3 to 10 days. Especially during the season, holidays, or public holidays.).
This means that Priority Delivery orders will be processed first from our site. Not that you will receive the order in the time it takes to process the order.
2. Secured delivery (with priority processing):
Order value up to 150 €, safe delivery. This is the safest delivery, and if the post office loses your package they will refund you.
3. Standard delivery:
Shipped within 7-10 business days. (In some cases, there may be a delay of delivery with a delay of 7 to 14 days. Especially during the season, holidays, or public holidays.)
Shipping and handling costs will be calculated automatically when ordering, and the rate depends on the weight of the parcel and the country to which it is sent.
Please note that on Saturday and Sunday we do not process orders.
1. Payment by Bank Transfer
2. Payment via PayPal
3. Payment by card on our other site https://www.exotic-seeds.store
4. Payment with cryptocurrencies Bitcoin
5. Payment by Westernunion, Moneygram
Read below for more information:
1. PAYMENT WITH BANK ACCOUNT SEPA / IBAN-SWIFT-BIC
We have several bank accounts (across the world) where you can make a payment from your local bank account without high fee provision.
Please specify your order reference in the bank payment description. (Sample "SGS-19811702") If you do not write an order reference, it can cause the problem so that we cannot find who made the payment... Always write ORDER REFERENCE.
Our system will automatically cancel the order if we have not received bank payment within 7 days.
2. PAYMENT WITH PAYPAL
For PayPal, we accept only Euro, so if you want to pay with PayPal you must change the currency in the Euro.
3. PAYMENT WITH CARDS
If you want to make a payment by card, you have to make an order on our website https://www.exotic-seeds.store/
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, CB (Cartes Bancaires), Diners Club / Discover, China UnionPay, JCB, Discovers
4. PAYMENT BY WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM
These options are available only for countries from 3rd world countries (Africa...), for other countries send us an inquiry.
As a customer, you are obliged to pay all transaction fees.
You must provide us with transaction details so that we can know that you have made the payment, as well as to withdraw the money for your order.
Please note that if you want to pay for the order this way, you are obliged to pay within 3 days.
If we do not receive your payment within 3 days, your order will be canceled and you will no longer have the option to order again with Western Union or MoneyGram.
Our system will automatically cancel the order if we have not received bank payment within 7 days.
Please always read here important notices (if there are any) to see if we maybe have the vacation or anything else in the time you ordered the seeds from us: Important Notices
Some of the products that are not in stock and their quantity is limited, you can order. But you'll have to wait up to 30 days until we get the seeds from our supplier.
If you order other products that are available, along with products that are not currently in stock, your order will be sent only when we receive a seed that is currently not available and you have ordered it.
