PAPAW 
Asimina triloba (Linnaeus) Dunal 
The papaw is a tall shrub or small tree from ten to forty-five 
feet in height. It grows in rich ground along river bottoms, where 
owing to the soft and unobtrusive coloring of the flowers, it is 
easily ovetlooked when in bloom. The flowets appear earlier than 
the leaves, along with those of dogwood and redbud, but the fruits. 
do not ripen until October. They grow singly or in spatse bunches, 
and are of the size and shape of short stout bananas. When ripe, 
they ate colored deep yellow. Opinions differ as to their palatabil- 
ity, but many petsons enjoy their sweet aromatic flavor. The old 
French settlers called them “assimin,” a name derived from that 
used in a dialect of the Algonquian Indians, and the genus name 
is derived from this term. The papaw belongs to the tropical Anona 
Family, but the eight species of Asimina ate all native in the south- 
ern United States. 
This specimen grew on Plummets Island, Maryland, near Wash- 
ington, District of Columbia. | 
Papaw ranges from Florida westward to Texas and Kansas and 
northward to New York, southern Ontario, and Michigan. 
PLATE 328 
