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Species Native to Missouri
Common Name: pawpaw
Type: Tree
Family: Annonaceae
Zone: 5 to 9
Native Range: Southeastern United States
Garden Location: Martha Love Symington Missouri Native Shade Garden
Height: 15 to 30 feet
Spread: 15 to 30 feet
Bloom Time: April to May
Bloom Color: Purple
Bloom Description: Purple
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Low
Flowers: Fragrant Flowers, Flowers not Showy
Leaves: Good Fall Color
Fruit: Showy Fruit, Edible Fruit
Tolerates: Wet Soil
Uses: Rain Garden
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium to wet, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Prefers moist, acidic, fertile soils. Will grow in shade but becomes leggy.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Pawpaw is a Missouri native small understory tree or large shrub which typically grows 15-20' tall (sometimes to 30') and occurs in low bottom woods, wooded slopes, ravines and along streams. Often spreads by root suckers to form colonies or thickets. Large, slightly drooping, elliptical, medium green leaves (6-12" long) retain green color well into fall before turning to a bright (but sometimes undistinguished) yellow. Cup-shaped, purple flowers (3 green sepals and 6 purple petals in two tiers) appear in spring, and give way to edible, oblong, yellowish green fruits which mature in early autumn to a dark brown. Flavor and fleshy consistency of the sweet-flavored fruits resembles bananas. Fruits are frequently eaten raw or used in ice creams or pies, although they can produce nausea in some people. Wildlife (e.g., raccoons, squirrels and opossums) eagerly seek out the fruits and often beat humans to the harvest. Early Americans made a yellow dye from the pulp of the ripened fruit.
Plant of Merit
Pawpaw is a small, short-trunked understory tree or large multi-stemmed shrub that features cup-shaped purple flowers in spring, somewhat banana-like edible fruits (pawpaws to 6 inches long) in fall and large obovate green leaves throughout the growing season. It is native to low woods, slopes, ravines and stream margins in the southeastern U. S. It matures to as much as 35 feet tall, but if not restrained will spread by root suckers and self-seeding to form colonies. This tree prefers moist, acidic, fertile soils in full sun to part shade. Pawpaw may be grown for its fruit or as a landscape specimen, or may be naturalized in wild gardens or native plant areas.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Garden Uses
An interesting native plant with somewhat questionable ornamental value. Naturalize in a native plant or wild garden, or grow in a shrub border or woodland margin. Effective in damp areas along ponds or streams.