Asimina triloba

Picture coming soon – Spring 2012

Owner: St. Williams Nursery & Ecology Centre
Nominator: Forest Care
Height: 12.1 m (39.7 ft)
Diameter: 
30.16 cm (11.9 in)
Circumference:
 94.7 cm (37.3 in)

Description

The Paw Paw is native to the eastern, southern, and midwestern United States and extreme southwestern Ontario. It is a large shrub or small understory tree growing to heights of 11-14 m. It commonly grows in floodplains and rich, shady bottomlands. Paw paw flowers are about 3-5 cm across and a rich red-prurple or maroon when mature and appear in early spring at the same time or slightly before the new leaves appear. The fruit of the paw paw is a large, yellowish-green to brown berry that is 5-16 cm long and 3-7 cm wide, containing several brown seeds 15-25 mm in diameter which are embedded in the soft edible flesh of the fruit. The fruit has a sweet, custardish flavour, similar to banana, mango and cantaloupe. In Canada where it is found only in a few small pockets in southern Ontario, it is considered a sensitive or vulnerable species. (Source: Wikipedia )

Paw Paw leaves and fruit (Source: Wikipedia )