![]() ![]() ![]() Interestingly, flowers of trees in the same “patch” are genetically identical and often are not self-fertile, meaning a pollinator must carry the pollen from a flower in one colony to flowers in another colony to reliably produce fruit. Pawpaws belong to an ancient family of flowering plants that evolved about 85 million years ago and the dark red flowers and odor attract the carrion flies and scavenger beetles that pollinate them. If you sniff the flowers closely, you may notice the fetid odor of carrion that has evolved to lure their pollinators. The petals themselves have a heavy texture with impressed veins and their rich maroon-brown color that glows when backlit by the sun. Each flower is beautiful when inspected closely, with three broadly rounded outer petals that curve back, revealing another ring of three smaller petals that surround the stamens and pistils in the center of the flower. The small, unusual flowers are intriguing, only about 1-1/2” wide, hanging from the bare branches like dark maroon bells. ![]() In early to mid-April, just before the new leaves emerge, Pawpaws begin to bloom with a most distinctive flower. Pawpaw Tree Fall Color – Photo by Betsy Washington The bark is smooth gray-brown but develops small, warty raised pores (lenticels) as it ages. Pawpaws tend to spread into colonies via root suckers especially in rich, moist woods, so that what appears to be many individual trees is actually a single colony of genetically identical individuals. In fall the lush foliage turns a clear, showy yellow, lighting up the shady understory. In shady areas, the leaves are fanned out along the stout branches, in an arrangement that allows the tree to absorb the maximum amount of limited sunlight beneath the often-dense forest canopy. Pawpaws are distinctive small trees and have large, rather tropical-looking, drooping leaves that can reach 12” in length and up to six inches wide. They are an understory tree reaching up to 40 ft in height and tend to sucker into small colonies or “Pawpaw patches”. In Virginia, Pawpaws are common in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont in forested bottomlands, well drained floodplain forests, swamp hummocks and rich woods. Ranging from Florida and Texas north to New York and Southern Ontario, Pawpaw is the only member of this family to occur in north temperate forests. Pawpaw is a member of the Custard-Apple Family, the Annonaceae, a large family of tropical and subtropical species. The Pawpaw, Asimina triloba, is a handsome small tree that is as fascinating as it is curious. By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Chapter ![]()
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