PAPAW 



THE ELDER 



355 



soursop, sweetsop, and the custard-apple, all 

 luscious dessert fruits in tropical countries. 

 The generic name of the papaw, Asimina, is 

 said to come from assiminier, an Indian ap- 

 pellation. The common name comes from the 

 fancied resemblance of the fruit to that of 

 the tropical papaw, Carica Papaya, an unfor- 

 tunate christening, for there is little similarity 

 between the two, and the plants belong to 

 widely different families. Besides the hardy 

 species here considered, there is a subtropical 

 shrubby papaw, A. grandi flora, growing in 

 Florida, which is said to produce very delicious 

 fruit. The chief botanical characters of the 

 papaw are as fallows: 



Asimina triloba, Dun. Plant a small tree or tall 

 shrub attaining a height of 30-40 feet, with smooth, 

 brownish bark, blotched with gray-brown. Leaves al- 

 ternate, deciduous, entire, obovate-lanceolate, 8-12 inches 

 long, sharply pointed, with a wedge-shaped base, smooth 

 or nearly so. Flowers axillary, solitary or few, short- 

 stalked, nearly 2 inches across ; sepals 3, smaller than 

 the petals, deciduous ; petals 6, in 2 series, the 3 outer 

 ones larger, at first green, becoming purple ; stamens 

 numerous, with short filaments ; pistils several, borne 

 on the top of a globose receptacle. Fruit a large berry, 

 3-5 inches long, half as thick, oblong-cylindric, yellow 

 or white when ripe in the autumn ; seeds 1 inch long, 

 y z inch broad, ovate, "imbedded in the pulp. 



The papaw is an inhabitant of eastern 

 America, from New Jersey westward through 

 southwestern New York, southern Ontario, 

 and southern Michigan to Kansas, and south- 

 ward to Texas and Florida. It is rare in the 

 East, but very common in the Mississippi 

 Valley, often forming dense thickets on rich 

 river-bottom lands. In the wild, the plants 

 are very conspicuous for their large leaves and 

 handsome flowers and fruits. 



'The papaw seems to have 'been an important 

 food resource with the aborigines, but the early 

 settlers were of two minds in regard to it. 

 Some praised it extravagantly; others . con- 

 demned it as a product to be eaten only in 

 case of dire necessity. All agree that it is a 

 nutritive 'food. The leaves when bruised have 

 a rank odor, and the aromatic odor of the 

 fruit is disagreeable to many. The pulp, which 

 resembles custard somewhat in color and con- 

 sistency, in well-ripened fruits is very rich, 

 and, until a taste is acquired for it, quite too 

 rich for the palates of most persons. The large 

 seeds make the papaw unpleasant to eat as a 

 dessert fruit. Nevertheless, the papaw is 

 found as a- market fruit in towns and cities 

 about which it grows abundantly, and seems to 

 be prized by those who have long known it. 

 At one time, nurserymen offered one or two 

 named varieties for their fruits and as orna- 

 mentals, but these seem to have disappeared. 

 As long as the wild supply continues abundant, 

 it is doubtful whether great interest can be 

 awakened in the domestication of the papaw. 



A fully grown papaw is green with a heavy 

 bloom. The flesh is greenish-white, being al- 

 most white at the center, and at this time has 

 a most offensive, fetid odor and taste. As the 

 fruit matures, the skin becomes brownish- 

 black, the flesh changes to yellow or creamy 

 white, the hard flesh becomes soft, succulent, 



rich, sweet, and to some tastes delicious. The 

 seeds in ripened fruits separate easily from 

 the soft pulp. The delicacy of flavor is 

 heightened by light frosts. A ripened papaw 

 is too soft for distant shipment. There seem 

 to be two natural varieties of papaw. In one, 

 the flesh of the fruit is creamy white; in the 

 other, yellow. There are no differences in the 

 trees. The yellow-fleshed papaw is the edible 

 one; the white-fleshed one retains the fetid 

 odor until decay. The papaw is a dessert-fruit, 

 having small value for culinary preparations. 



THE ELDER 



Several species of elder furnish edible ber- 

 ries in considerable quantities from wild 

 plants, and are sometimes found under culti- 

 vation where other fruits fail, or to supplement 

 the garden supply of other berries. The elder 

 belongs to the genus Sambucus, a member of 

 the honeysuckle or Caprifoliaceae family; the 

 only other genus which furnishes edible fruit 

 is the Viburnum, one of whose species is the 

 tree-cranberry. There are some twenty or 

 more species of elders, rather widely dis- 

 tributed in the North Temperate Zone en- 

 circling the earth ; three or four produce ber- 

 ries which are put to various culinary uses; 

 the fruits of none are adapted for dessert pur- 

 poses. While the plants of all elders are 

 rather coarse, the species producing esculent 

 berries are ornamental in leaf, blossom, and 

 fruit, and are often made to serve esthetic as 

 well as utilitarian purposes. The prominent 

 botanical characters of the genus are: 



Sambucus. Coarse shrubs or small trees with thick 

 pithy branches and a rank smell when bruised. Leaves 

 deciduous, opposite, odd-pinnate, serrate-pointed leaflets, 

 with or without stipules. Flowers small, white, perfect, 

 borne in broad compound cymes ; calyx-lobes minute ; 

 corolla open-urn-shaped, with a spreading 5-cleft limb ; 

 stamens 5 ; ovary inferior ; styles short, 3-lobed. Fruit 

 a berry-like, black-purple juicy drupe containing 3-5 

 small seed-like nutlets ; the edible berries borne in great 

 profusion in early autumn. The three species which 

 offer greatest horticultural possibilities and which are 

 now occasionally cultivated are : 



1. Sambucus nigra, Linn. European Elder. Shrub 

 or small tree with deeply furrowed bark ; branches gray, 

 with numerous large lenticels. Leaflets dark green, at 

 first pubescent but becoming smooth, usually 5, elliptic, 

 acute, 2-6 inches long. Flowers in 5-divided cymes, 5 

 inches across. Berry black and lustrous, round, ^i- 1 /^ 

 inch in diameter. There are many natural and hor- 

 ticultural varieties of the species, the habitat of which 

 is temperate Europe and West Asia. It is grown in its 

 various forms rather commonly as an ornamental. 



2. Sambucus canadensis, Linn. American Elder. The 

 American elder is often confused with the European 

 elder, the two being easily distinguished, however. The 

 native species is a shrub, seldom a tree ; the wood is 

 not so hard, often being semi-herbaceous ; the wood is 

 paler in color, with fewer and smaller lenticels ; the 

 plant is more stoloniferous. The leaflets are usually 7, 

 instead of the usual 5 in the exotic, smaller and more 

 pubescent on the veins beneath. The compound cymes 

 are much broader across, often attaining a spread of 

 10-14 inches. The purple-black fruits are larger, sweeter, 

 richer, better flavored, and roore abundantly borne 

 than those of the foreign elde?. The European elder 

 is, possibly, the better ornamental ; the American species 

 offers most to the pomologist. Sambucus canadensis 

 ranges from Nova Scotia and Florida westward almost 

 or quite to the Rocky Mountains. There are several 

 most interesting natural and horticultural varieties. 



3. Sambucus ccerulea, Raf. Western Elder. This 

 species is very similar to the eastern American elder, 



