THE /I/XIERICP BDTpiET. 
Vol. VIII. BINGHAMTON. N. Y., JUNE, 1905. No. 6. 
THE PAPAW. 
Asimina triloba. 
BARK gray, smooth ; young shoots dark pubescent ; leaves obovate, 
acute, cuneate at base ; petioles short ; flowers appearing with 
the leaves ; sepals three ; petals six, dull red, the outer set larger ; 
stamens many, in a globose mass ; pistils several, distinct, but few ripen- 
ing; fruit a fleshy pod-like structure, containing several large flattish 
seeds — A shrub or small tree in rich moist soil ranging from western New 
York, Michigan and Nebraska southward to the Gulf. 
Although the papaw extends northward in the Miss- 
issippi Valley nearly to the Canadian border, and spreads 
eastward under the salubrious influence of the Great 
Lakes until it crosses this border into Ontario, it is essen- 
tially a southern species and is at its best nearer the Gulf. 
The Northern botanist coming upon a papaw thicket for 
the first time is likely to be impressed with the tropical 
appearance of the plant and is not surprised upon being 
told that this is the most northern member of the great 
custard-apple family which in the tropics numbers nearly 
five hundred species. The large leaves, for the most part 
borne near the extremities of the slender branches, give 
our tree an individuality that prevents its ever being con- 
fused with any of the other plants that aflect the same 
habitat. 
In other ways the tree shows its southern kinship. 
The leaf-buds are not encased in scales during the winter 
as they are in strictly northern plants, but hang from the 
bare branches, naked save for their coating of dark brown 
hairs. In appearance they strongly suggest the leaf-buds 
of the witch-hazel. Nor do they develop with the first 
warm days of spring as the naked buds might lead one to 
expect. On the contrary the leaves are not fully spread in 
the States north of the Ohio river until the last week in 
