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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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Introductory
SPECIES: Asimina triloba | Pawpaw
ABBREVIATION :
ASITRI
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
ASTR
COMMON NAMES :
pawpaw
custard apple
dog banana
Indian banana
false-banana
pawpaw-apple
fetid-shrub
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for pawpaw is Asimina triloba
(L.) Dunal [15,21,31]. There are no accepted subspecies, varieties or
forms.
Pawpaw forms hybrids with dwarf pawpaw (A. parviflora) [21].
LIFE FORM :
Tree, Shrub
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
Pawpaw is considered rare and endangered in New York [4].
COMPILED BY AND DATE :
Janet Sullivan, August 1993
LAST REVISED BY AND DATE :
NO-ENTRY
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Sullivan, Janet. 1993. Asimina triloba. In: Remainder of Citation
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Asimina triloba | Pawpaw
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Pawpaw is widely distributed throughout the eastern United States. Its
range extends from western New York west across southwestern Ontario to
Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa; south to eastern Nebraska, eastern
Oklahoma, and eastern Texas; east to the Appalachian Mountains and the
Florida panhandle [15,21,28,31].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
FRES17 Elm - ash - cottonwood
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
STATES :
AL AR FL GA IL IN IA KS KY LA
MD MI MS MO NE NY NC OH OK PA
SC TN TX VA WV ON
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS :
ANTI BISO BITH BLRI BUFF CATO
CHCH COLO COSW CUGA FOCA FODO
GWCA GWMP GRSM HOSP INDU MACA
MANA NATR NERI OBRI OZAR PRWI
RICH ROCR SHEN SHIL VAFO
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K089 Black Belt
K098 Northern floodplain forest
K100 Oak - hickory forest
K101 Elm - ash forest
K102 Beech - maple forest
K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
K113 Southern floodplain forest
SAF COVER TYPES :
25 Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
26 Sugar maple - basswood
27 Sugar maple
28 Black cherry - maple
39 Black ash - American elm - red maple
42 Bur oak
52 White oak - black oak - northern red oak
53 White oak
55 Northern red oak
57 Yellow-poplar
58 Yellow-poplar - eastern hemlock
59 Yellow-poplar - white oak - northern red oak
60 Beech - sugar maple
61 River birch - sycamore
62 Silver maple - American elm
64 Sassafras - persimmon
65 Pin oak - sweetgum
76 Shortleaf pine - oak
78 Virginia pine - oak
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
87 Sweetgum - yellow-poplar
91 Swamp chestnut oak - cherrybark oak
92 Sweetgum - willow oak
93 Sugarberry - American elm - green ash
94 Sycamore - sweetgum - American elm
108 Red maple
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Asimina triloba | Pawpaw
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
Pawpaw wood is light, soft, coarse-grained, and weak [28,31]. It is not
of economic importance.
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Pawpaw fruits are consumed by many birds and mammals, including
raccoons, gray foxes, opossums, squirrels, and black bears [6,8,16,31].
White-tailed deer browse pawpaw; beavers consume the bark [17].
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
Pawpaw fruit can be consumed by humans, although handling the fruit may
cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals [28]. The fruits can
be eaten raw, cooked in puddings or breads, or used to make ice cream
[9]. It is planted for fruit production and as an ornamental [2].
An anticancer drug has been purified from pawpaw, and is being tested [34].
The seeds contain an alkaloid, asiminine, which is reported to have
emetic properties. The bark also contains an alkaloid, analobine, and
was once used as a medicine [31].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Pawpaw is not valued for silvicuture. Sites that have been clearcut may
need to be treated to suppress pawpaw, since it may outcompete valued
timber species [13]. Pawpaw creates heavy shade that reduces seedling
recruitment of white oak (Quercus alba) and shagbark hickory (Carya
ovata) [24,26]. In southwestern Illinois, an increase in pawpaw cover
was attributed to defoliation of overstory trees by the linden looper.
The pawpaw canopy suppressed seedling establishment of less tolerant
species. An increase in shade-tolerant species such as sugar maple
(Acer saccharum) is now occurring [24,26].
In Ohio, pawpaw did not occur on study plots until the fourth growing
season following clearcutting [35].
Pawpaw leaves are not preferred by the gypsy moth [14].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Asimina triloba | Pawpaw
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Pawpaw is a native, deciduous, large shrub or small tree. It exhibits
clonal growth, forming thickets or small colonies [15,27]. It grows
from 20 to 40 feet (6-12 m) tall [2,16,31]. There is usually a single
trunk [28]. The bark is thin with shallow, irregular fissures [28].
Young twigs are hairy [12]. Pawpaw leaves can be up to 1 foot (30 cm)
long, and are odorous when bruised [17]. The fruit is a large berry
[15,31].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Phanerophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Vegetative reproduction by root suckering is the most important method
of pawpaw regeneration [22]. Rogstad and others [25] reported a
relatively high level of genetic variation among populations, but
moderate or no variation within populations. This was attributed to the
formation of clonal thickets and/or inbreeding in small populations [25].
Pawpaw reproduces sexually, however, the rate of fruit set is very low
(0.45 percent) compared to the number of flowers produced [33]. It is
pollinated by flies or nitidulid beetles [22,32,33]. It
self-pollinates, but outcrossing is more common [20]. Germination of
pawpaw seeds is slow, probably due to embryo dormancy [2].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Pawpaw is found in deciduous forests, on slopes of ravines, along
streams, and floodplains. Soils on which it occurs are usually deep,
rich, damp, sandy, or clayey [15,28,36].
Common tree associates include blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), Ohio buckeye
(Aesculus glabra), honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthus), and coffee tree
(Gymnocladus dioica) [3,9].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Facultative Seral Species
Pawpaw is tolerant of shade, but appears to die out in old-growth
forests. In southwestern Pennsylvania, moderate numbers of pawpaw
seedlings and saplings were found in mature second-growth forests, but
none were found in undisturbed, old-growth forests [7].
From a compilation of historical records and current data on its
distribution, Campbell [3] concluded that pawpaw is suited to regimes of
moderate disturbance. Pawpaw is a good competitor when undisturbed for
a period of time, but does not spread into either early- or
late-successional forest types [3].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Pawpaw flowers emerge with the leaves, from February to May, depending
on latitude [8,28]. Fruits ripen from July to September [17].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Asimina triloba | Pawpaw
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Pawpaw is probably able to survive top-kill by fire due to its ability
to produce root sprouts.
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Tree with adventitious-bud root crown/soboliferous species root sucker
Secondary colonizer - off-site seed
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Asimina triloba | Pawpaw
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Pawpaw cover is probably reduced by fire. In a study to determine the
effects of repeated prescribed fires on vegetation in the
prairie-woodland transition zone, fires were conducted for 3 consecutive
years. The vegetation was monitored for almost 20 years after the last
fire was conducted. Pawpaw stems increased in number only in the
absence of fire, and only after 13 years had passed since the last fire [1].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Asimina triloba | Pawpaw
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Index
Related categories for Species: Asimina triloba
| Pawpaw
|
 |
