The tulip transplants easily, grows rapidly, tall and with short side
branches. Experiments in growing this tree indicate that it is one of
the very best trees for reinforcing the woodlot, and other forest
planting. It can be recommended for roadside planting because it grows
tall and has a deep root system. Where conditions of life are not too
severe it could be used for shade tree planting.
=ANONÀCEAE.= The Custard Apple Family.
=ASÍMINA.= The Pawpaw.
=Asímina tríloba= (Linnæus) Dunal. Pawpaw. Plate 68. Shrubs or small
trees; bark smooth except on very old trees when it becomes somewhat
furrowed; twigs at first covered with rusty brown hairs, becoming
glabrous and reddish-brown by the end of the season; leaves
obovate-lanceolate, average blades 16-30 cm. long, abruptly
taper-pointed, wedge-shape at base, margins entire, somewhat rusty
pubescent at first, becoming at maturity glabrous above, and glabrous or
nearly so beneath; flowers appear in May or early June, maroon color,
drooping; fruit edible, ripening in September and October, 7-13 cm.
long, greenish-yellow, smooth, pulp white or yellow, with a few large,
dark-brown flattened seeds; wood light, soft and weak.
=Distribution.=--New York, north shore of Lake Erie, southern Michigan,
Nebraska, south to Florida and west to Texas. Found in all parts of
Indiana, although it is found in the greatest abundance in the central
counties. It prefers a moist rich soil, although it is quite adaptive.
Sometimes it is found in a black loam soil in low woods or about lakes,
but its preference is for a beech and sugar maple woods or habitats
approximating it. In the southern counties it is absent on the sterile
wooded ridges, but may be a common shrub at the base of the slopes. It
is a constant companion of the tulip tree and where one will grow the
other is likely to be found. It is a great tree to send up suckers,
hence it is always found in clumps, or forms real thickets. This species
with us is usually 2-7 meters high; however, there are records of large
trees. Collett in Ind. Geol. Rept. 5:404:1874, in a geological report of
Gibson County says: "A forest of pawpaw bushes attracted our attention
by their tree-like size, being nearly a foot in diameter."
[Illustration: Plate 68.