North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Kieran &/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>]

Pawpaws don't flower or crop especially well in shade.  They like to spread 
via clonal rootstocks while waiting for something to happen to open up the 
canopy.  For Ernest to have have found one with actual fruit on it puts him 
way  ahead of the average Tennessee wild plant/fruit explorer.  We found a 
grave of them surrounding a sinkhole and cave, in turn surrounded by cow 
pasture so there was plenty of light from all sides.  Other than that patch 
we have only occasionally seen fruit or even flowers on pawpaws.  Up and 
down our creek there are all sorts of patches suppressed by forest and too 
far apart to be pollinated properly.  Donna