Would your landscape benefit from a native, nearly pest-free, fruit tree that deer don’t eat and which produces delectable, custardy fruit and grows well in relatively small, shaded spaces—but stinks?
In her “A Cook’s Garden” column, “Return of the native? Papaws’ proponents,” in the Washington Post, Barbara Damrosch recommends the native pawpaw (Asimina trilobia) tree, which is spelled “papaw” in the story but appears in other sources as “paw paw” and “paw-paw,” in addition to “pawpaw.”
Damrosch’s suggestion sounded interesting so I surfed to Wikipedia, which supplied additional information: This native of eastern North America produces large, edible fruit that tastes something like banana custard. In addition, deer, rabbits, goats, and most insects avoid its “disagreeable smelling” leaves, twigs, and bark, which also contain a natural insect repellent. In his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, Michael Dirr says the stems have “fetid odor when broken.”
Disagreeable smelling leaves and branches? What about its flowers? Wikipedia describes their “odor” as similar to that of “rotting meat.”
Dirr points out that pawpaw fruit attracts animals, especially raccoons. Wikipedia adds foxes, opossums, squirrels, and black bears. Wikipedia adds that the larvae of the zebra swallowtail butterfly eat the tree’s leaves, which give the butterfly lifelong protection from birds and other predators.
Perhaps the reason pawpaws grow mostly in the wild is their odor potential, but apparently the problem isn’t insurmountable because Damrosch’s article lists nurseries that sell young trees.
If you’re interested in this native, deer- and insect-resistant fruit tree, be fully informed before you invest. Read the Damrosch and Wikipedia articles, which contain photographs, and do additional research. For Damrosch, CLICK HERE. For Wikipedia, CLICK HERE.
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