![[IMAGE]](images/p36-1.jpg)
DESOTO'S EXPEDITION into the Mississippi Valley in 1541 gave us
the first written description of the pawpaw. This fleshy fruit provided food
for many conquistadors who always seemed near starvation.
Pawpaw is a member of a tropical plant family and has no close relatives in Missouri.
The fruit is shaped like a stubby banana. It is first green but turns purple when ripe and tastes somewhat like banana. The fruit matures in September or October.
The leaves are alternate, borne simple on a short stalk, sometimes growing from 6 to 12 inches long and 3 to 5 inches wide. They are widest above the middle and taper to the base with the edges being smooth and green above and pale beneath.
In the winter, this small tree is easy to identify by its velvet brown, naked or feather-like terminal bud. The twigs are light to dark reddish-brown and the buds are covered with rusty-red hairs. The bark is smooth and thin. It is light ash-colored, warty with blotches emitting a disagreeable odor when crushed.
The exotic flowers with six brown to maroon petals appear before the leaves and are one inch across when mature. They have an odor of fermenting grapes.
Pawpaw can be found growing in dense shade on fertile, moist soils. It is usually a small tree seldom exceeding 8 inches in diameter and 30 feet in height. The wood is soft, greenish colored, and has no commercial use. Wildlife such as opossum, raccoon, quail, turkey, eastern kingbird, catbird, robin, vireo and red-eyed vireo relish the pawpaw fruit. Some people even prepare cakes, pies and cookies from this fleshy fruit.
