The pawpaw tree

What is a pawpaw tree?

Botanically the pawpaw is the northern outlier of the custard-apple family, the same tropical family as cherimoya and soursop, but hardy enough to shrug off a cold-country winter. In the wild it lives as an understory tree, shaded by taller oaks and maples, and spreads by root suckers into dense patches, the pawpaw patches of the old folk song. Its broad, drooping leaves turn clear yellow in fall, and in spring it opens maroon, six-petaled flowers before the leaves fully expand.

That forest heritage explains most of how it behaves in a yard. A pawpaw wants rich, moist, well-drained soil, tolerates shade better than almost any other fruit tree, and produces best in full sun once established. For the fruit itself, what it is and what it tastes like, see what is a pawpaw.

What does a pawpaw tree look like?

Picture a small tree wearing leaves borrowed from the tropics. The leaves are large and drooping, the bark thin, smooth, and gray-brown, and the whole tree rarely tops 25 feet. In early spring it hangs nodding, cup-shaped maroon flowers, about 1 to 2 inches across with six petals, before the leaves fully expand. By late summer it carries green, mango-shaped fruit in small clusters. And it seldom stands alone: root suckers mean a wild pawpaw usually reads as a patch of matching small trees rather than one specimen.

Trying to confirm a tree in the field? Our step-by-step guide to identifying a pawpaw covers bark, lookalikes, and the season-by-season tells.

Pawpaw tree leaves

The leaves are the everyday giveaway. Each is simple, 6 to 12 inches long, arranged alternately along the twig, and broadest past the middle before tapering to a point. They droop, which gives even a healthy tree a slightly wilted, tropical look, and they turn a soft, clear yellow in fall. Crush one and you get a faint, slightly rank green smell that many foragers use as confirmation. If a big-leaved sapling has you second-guessing, the identification guide covers the common lookalikes such as umbrella magnolia.

How big do pawpaw trees get?

A full grown pawpaw is a small tree, not a shade tree. Most settle between 15 and 25 feet tall, with the occasional specimen reaching 30 feet or a little more. The shape depends heavily on light: a tree in full sun stays shorter, denser, and roughly pyramidal, while a tree in shade grows taller and more open as it reaches upward. Expect a spread of about 15 to 20 feet on an open-grown tree.

One thing to plan for is suckering. A pawpaw sends up shoots from its roots, and over years an unpruned tree becomes a thicket of clones. That is fine for a wild hedge and a problem in a tidy bed, so decide early whether you want a single trunk or a patch, and remove suckers accordingly.

How fast do pawpaw trees grow?

Slowly at first, then steadily. In its first year or two a young pawpaw spends almost all of its energy underground, building a deep, brittle taproot, and the top can look like it is doing nothing. This is normal. New plantings also resent full sun in their first summer or two and do better with light shade while they establish. Once the root is set, growth picks up to roughly a foot or more of new height a year in good soil.

How long until a pawpaw tree fruits?

For fruit, patience is the rule. A tree grown from seed generally takes about 5 to 8 years to bear, while a grafted named variety, being mature wood already, often fruits in 3 to 4 years. If you want fruit sooner, start with grafted trees of two different named varieties.

Pawpaw tree flowers and fruit

Flowers come first, in early spring before the leaves expand: nodding, cup-shaped, 1 to 2 inches across, with six petals in deep maroon.

Do you need two pawpaw trees to get fruit?

Yes in almost every case. Pawpaws are self-incompatible, so a flower needs pollen from a genetically different tree, not another sucker off the same root. Two named varieties, or two unrelated seedlings, will cross-pollinate. Their flowers are pollinated by flies and beetles rather than bees, so fruit set is often light without help, and a lone pawpaw can flower for years without fruiting. Our pawpaw pollination guide explains why, and what to do about it.

The fruit is the reason most people plant one: the largest edible fruit native to North America, green and oblong, hanging in small clusters and yellowing and speckling as it ripens from late August into October. For picking and ripeness, see harvesting pawpaws; for when the fruit ripens in your region, the season tracker follows the harvest window across the country.

How long do pawpaw trees live?

Pawpaw is unusual among fruit trees in that the individual trunk is not really the long-lived unit. The species grows clonally, sending up root suckers that form thickets and small colonies, as the US Forest Service's species review describes. As older stems decline, younger clones from the same root system take their place, which is how a wild patch outlasts any single trunk in it.

For a single planted tree, the standard references stop short of a firm lifespan figure, so treat any exact number you see elsewhere with suspicion. The known hazards are about site rather than age: pawpaws need moist but never waterlogged soil, and young transplants scorch in full sun. See common pests and problems for what actually goes wrong.

How to grow a pawpaw tree

• Plant two. Pawpaws will not set fruit from a single tree or from suckers off one root. You need two genetically different trees close enough to cross-pollinate, so plan for a pair from the start.
• Give young trees light shade. Seedlings and first-year transplants can scorch in full sun. Shade them for the first summer or two, then let them into full sun for the best fruiting.
• Keep the taproot intact. The deep, fragile root makes pawpaws hard to transplant from the wild and best planted young from a deep container. Disturb the root as little as possible when planting.
• Rich, moist, well-drained soil. Match its forest home: fertile, consistently moist but never waterlogged, slightly acidic ground.
• Expect light natural fruit set. Flies and beetles, not bees, do the pollinating, so many growers hand-pollinate with a small brush to improve the crop.

Starting from seed instead? That is its own process, because the seed must never dry out and needs a long cold spell before it will sprout. See how to grow a pawpaw from seed.

Where pawpaw trees grow

The native range runs across much of the eastern United States, from the Gulf Coast up through the Ohio and Mississippi valleys into the Great Lakes and southern Ontario, and east to the Atlantic, broadly USDA hardiness zones 5 through 8. Gardeners grow them well outside that range too, as far as the Pacific Northwest, wherever the summer is long and warm enough to ripen the fruit before frost. Cold-hardiness is rarely the limit; a short or cool season is. The full range picture lives at where do pawpaws grow.

Not sure about your spot? Our can I grow a pawpaw grow checker gives a zone-based verdict for any US ZIP code, and the state pages point you to nurseries and orchards near you.

From the species to a tree in your yard

Everything above describes the species. What you actually plant is a choice: a grafted named variety, such as a Peterson selection or a KSU release, gives you known fruit quality and earlier bearing at a higher price, while seedlings are cheaper and more variable, which is fine if you have the patience and the room to grow several and keep the best. Whichever you pick, buy two different genotypes.

That choice is easier with real data in front of you. We keep 45 verified cultivar pages, from Peterson and Kentucky State University selections to wild and heirloom finds, each one verified before it gets a page. And the map behind this site tracks 152 verified places to find pawpaws in person: nurseries, orchards, u-pick farms, markets, and festivals, browsable by state.

We also check availability at nurseries that ship. As of Sep 9, 2026, 21 named cultivars are confirmed in stock at 4 nurseries that ship. The live list is on where to buy pawpaw trees.

Keep going

• What is a pawpaw, and what does it taste like?
• How to identify a pawpaw tree in the field
• How to grow a pawpaw from seed
• How to graft a pawpaw
• Pawpaw pollination: why a flowering tree may not fruit
• Harvesting pawpaws and common pests and problems
• Named pawpaw varieties and when they ripen

Grounded in the Kentucky State University Pawpaw Program, the USDA-recognized repository for Asimina, grower guidance from Peterson Pawpaws, and the US Forest Service's species review of Asimina triloba. Form and timing vary with site and season; treat the ranges here as guidance.