PawPaw Fruit Tree

Asimina triloba is a small, deciduous understory tree native to the eastern United States, where it forms thickets along riverbanks and in rich woodland soils. The largest fruit-bearing tree indigenous to North America, it produces heavy, oblong fruits with a custard-like flesh that ranges from pale yellow to deep orange depending on selection. Leaves are broad and tropical in appearance, giving the tree an unexpectedly lush presence in a temperate garden. Grown from seed, pawpaws require patience and a period of cold stratification, but reward that patience with a genuinely unusual edible that no supermarket carries.