Story By Joe McFarlandPhotos By Cindy Wright

Pawpaw trees aren’t rare in Illinois, but finding enoughpawpaws to eat just might give you a headache.

TheProblemWithPawpaws

September 2006 OutdoorIllinois / 11

For those of us who’ll try any-thing once, here’s a healthysuggestion: Don’t ever try shak-ing a pawpaw tree (Asiminatriloba) in an attempt to collect

the ripe fruits.You might try it once, but never

twice. As these potato-size “gifts” comeplummeting downward like sacks of

flour, you’ll quickly realize the error ofyour judgement.If it’s any consolation, you wouldn’t

be the first human to get bonked on thehead while trying to tease a few extrapawpaws into your possession; nobodyever manages to gather a satisfactorysupply of this rich, native Illinois fruit.Wildlife seem to gobble them up theinstant they reach the ground. And, per-haps more frustrating is the fact relative-ly few pawpaw trees grow large enoughto produce fruits at all.

Never heard of pawpaws? You’re notalone. The pawpaw tree is something of abotanical enigma in Illinois. With its mas-sive, drooping leaves (up to 12 incheslong) and banana-flavored fruits, Asiminatrilobamight seem indisputably foreign inthe Prairie State, yet it’s not. Shadowyravines and river bottoms are commonhabitats for this short, forest understorycomponent which occurs from southernIllinois all the way up to Chicago.Pawpaw trees might reach a mere

10-15 feet high (rarely more than 25feet), yet they can be quite impressive.During April, burgundy-colored, bell-shaped flowers appear on branches andeventually produce green, thin-skinnedfruits with a creamy yellow interior flesh.The oblong fruits can be as small as achicken egg or as large as a bakingpotato and eventually ripen to a softnessby early to mid September. A major dis-appointment for anyone sampling the

If you can’t identify these native

Illinois fruits, you’re not alone. Paw-

paws, the fruits of the pawpaw tree,

appear to resemble a tropical fruit.

The oblong to egg-shaped fruits

known as pawpaws ripen in early to

mid September in Illinois.

12 / OutdoorIllinois September 2006

need to be taught about Asimina triloba.The reason: Paw Paw, Illinois is a LeeCounty hamlet where several hundredresidents can trace their community his-tory to U.S. Army General WinfieldScott, who made an early 19th-centurystop at an unusual forest grove alongthe Chicago-Galena Trail.According to Scott, writing years

later, “There was also a small tree thatgrew here, unknown to many settlers, itbore a sweet fruit similar to the taste ofa banana and its shape. [sic] This wascalled the Paw Paw, from which this cityderived its name.”And while Scott’s visit is now distant

history, residents near Paw Paw stillnurture remnant populations of theirnamesake tree.Department of Natural Resources

District Forester Randy Timmons, whomonitors the forest groves around LeeCounty, said this shade-loving tree—which nonetheless thrives in sunshine—is enjoying a minor revival as gardenersand landscape designers increasinglyselect for native species.“I’ll get calls from landowners wanting

to know where to get seeds from localtrees,” Timmons explained, adding,“Pawpaws are easy to propagate, butfirst you have to know where to find asource of seeds.”

For those without a local pawpawpatch, garden catalogs now offer paw-paw seeds and stock. Plant two or moretrees to ensure pollination. Also, knowthat a huge taproot prohibits easy trans-planting, so it’s best to be positive whenselecting a planting site. After severalyears or more, with a small amount ofluck, pawpaw fruits will appear on thebranches. And, despite our advice, youwill probably try shaking the tree.Just once.

fruit is the size of the seeds. Onedoesn’t need to cut deeply into the fleshbefore encountering two or three large,smooth seeds filling up space wherewe’d rather see fruit.Despite the flaws, it’s easy to see

why pawpaws are compared to distantrain forest exotics. The lightly mottled,green-yellow-brown fruits taste some-what like a banana and are every bit asfilling. Nutritional analysis indicates plen-ty of potassium—just like bananas—aswell as large amounts of vitamins A andC, plus good, unsaturated fats.Yet obtaining those pawpaws

remains the perennial challenge.“Critters always seem to get to them

first,” observed Southern Illinois Univer-sity-Carbondale Department of ForestryAssociate Professor James Zaczek,who suggests close monitoring of treeswhen pawpaws begin to ripen in Sep-tember. “It’s a race against the ani-mals,” he added.Zaczek often teaches fall-semester

students how to identify the odd-lookingfruits sometimes found within ThompsonWoods on campus. But the instructorrecalled one instance when studentscleverly added their own, college-partytwist: “They made pawpaw coladas.”Farther upstate in north-central Illi-

nois, folks around Lee County don’t

Pawpaw trees produce distinctive,

burgandy blossoms during April, yet

the relatively small trees often fail to

produce their namesake fruits.

(PhotobyJoeMcFarland.)