Pawpaw Flower

Did you know

• The pawpaw is the largest fruit native to North America—a ripe pawpaw tastes exactly like a tropical custard of mango, banana, and pineapple, but grows wild in temperate eastern forests.
• The strange dark-purple flowers smell faintly of carrion to attract their pollinators—blowflies and beetles, not bees—which is why pawpaws often need hand-pollination to set fruit in cultivation.
• Pawpaw is the only temperate member of the otherwise tropical custard apple family (Annonaceae), which includes cherimoya, soursop, and ylang-ylang.
• Lewis and Clark survived on pawpaws in 1806 when their food ran out near the Missouri River—the journals describe the explorers eating 'pawpaws and biscuit' for several days straight.
• Pawpaw is the only host plant for the rare zebra swallowtail butterfly—the gorgeous black-and-white striped butterfly lays its eggs only on pawpaw leaves.

Color meanings

Uses

• Native fruit
• Wildlife habitat
• Specimen tree
• Edible landscaping