September is crisp and heavily fragrant of overripe fruit. Yellow heart-shaped basswood leaves rock side to side downward, speckling the forest floor. Trees rustle, click and pop with a constant sprinkle of acorns. Walnuts bounce and roll. A moist thud on the trail ahead stops me in my tracks. A cylindrical light-green fruit has broken open. Ants, Monarch butterflies and bees soon cover the yellow pulp. It is a Pawpaw.
Pawpaws are the only temperate members of the tropical Annonaceae family of trees. They flourish in Parkville’s deep rich river bottom soil in the understory of our oak/hickory forests. Their lush, 7-10” dark green leaves brighten to a palette of glowing yellows in the Fall.
Soft, thin-skinned Pawpaw fruit - the largest edible native American fruit – is born of springtime rose madder blossoms that mature and ripen during mid-August into October. Highly aromatic with a flavor that resembles a creamy mixture of banana, mango and pineapple, it is also called the Poor Man’s Banana. Nutritious Pawpaws are an important food source for several species of forest insects, birds and mammals. I’ve often seen evidence of clumsy overweight raccoons snapping slender Pawpaw trees during a late September Pawpaw heist.
Visit our Parkville Nature Sanctuary and explore the Pawpaw Path along White Alloe Creek. Enjoy the sweet scent of September -- and watch out for falling Pawpaws!
