The Pawpaw Regional Variety Trial

The pawpaw [Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal, Annonaceae] tree produces the largest edible tree fruit native to the United States (Darrow 1975; Layne 1996). This fruit, known commonly as the “poor man’s banana,” may reach up to 1 kg in size. Pawpaws grow wild in the mesic hardwood forests of 26 states in the eastern United States, ranging from northern Florida to southern Ontario (Canada) and as far west as eastern Nebraska (Kral 1960); as shown in Fig. 1. Pawpaws are hardy to USDA growing zone 5 (–15°F, –9.4°C) and flourish in the deep, rich fertile soils of river-bottom lands where they grow as understory trees or thicketshrubs (Sargent 1890). The unique qualities of the pawpaw fruit, ornamental value of the tree, and the natural compounds in the leaf, bark, and twig tissues that possess insecticidal and anti-cancer properties (McLaughlin 1997), suggest that pawpaw has great potential as an alternative high-value crop.