One possible explanation is that the men were suffering from an allergic reaction to pawpaw sap perhaps they had rubbed their sensitive eyes after picking and handling the fruits. There are several theories explaining their ailment. It sure beat dry, hardtack biscuits! But a number of the men soon complained of irritated, swollen eyes. The explorers ate their fill of juicy pawpaw fruits, which grow abundantly in river bottoms and are perfectly ripe that time of year. The men were in today’s state of Missouri, hurrying back downstream to St. Pawpaws in Missouri history: In the middle of September 1806, the famous Lewis and Clark expedition up the Missouri River was nearly over. When English speakers later encountered Asimina triloba, they applied the name to that species. Papayas were often called pawpaws by English speakers in the Caribbean in the 1500s and 1600s. The name “pawpaw” apparently is derived from the Spanish word papaya, which is the name of an unrelated fruit that nevertheless also has big leaves and big, juicy, green-skinned fruits. If you’re hankering for pawpaws and they’re out of season, try looking for their relatives in the produce sections of groceries, especially international groceries that sell Asian or Latin American fruits. All have a sweet banana/pineapple flavor, a creamy texture, and the same basic green-skinned, multiseeded fruit structure. If you love tropical fruits, you might be familiar with some other species that are in the same family: the cherimoya, custard apple, sweetsop, and soursop (or guanábana). There’s a Paw Paw village and a Paw Paw Creek in Sullivan County, in northern Missouri. There are many historical medicinal uses. Pawpaw extract is being studied as a possible cancer-fighting drug. The wood has no commercial use, but the inner bark was woven into a fiber cloth by Native Americans, and pioneers used it for stringing fish. It has even been used for flavoring beer! Some towns in the eastern United States have begun having annual pawpaw festivals. If you want fruit, plant two unrelated trees so they can cross-pollinate. New cultivated varieties are becoming available.

Pawpaw is increasingly popular as a native landscaping and fruit tree and has become one of the top choices as an edible native tree. “Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch” is an old song you might be familiar with - but today, surprisingly few Missourians know a pawpaw tree when they see one.

Louis students, the pawpaw was named Missouri's official state fruit tree. In 2019, after lobbying and testifying by a group of St.

Paw paw plant