The pawpaw, Asimina triloba, is a smallish understory tree that can reach 15-30 feet tall. It is native to Maryland and much of the eastern United States. They can grow in semi-shade to full sun, but they require rich moist forest soils to thrive (like those along Glenstone's Woodland Trail). In the early spring, half-dollar-sized reddish-purple flowers appear on leafless stems. If you lean in close, these flowers smell of yeast and rotting flesh. This scent attracts bottle flies, beetles, and scorpion flies which help pollinate the pawpaw. This is pollination by deception, since these bugs are usually attracted to carrion—but the pollination works only if the pollen transferred is from a different plant, since the pawpaw cannot pollinate itself. The resulting fruit is the largest edible native tree fruit in North America. About the size and shape of a mango, pawpaws taste like banana custard and are popular with turkeys, raccoons, opossums, foxes, and Glenstone's grounds team.

–Tim Curley