Asimina triloba -(L.) Dunal.-
pawpaw tree

Entry Type: Species

Species Name: Asimina triloba -(L.) Dunal.-

Common Name: pawpaw tree

Myaamia Name: ahsiimišaahkwi

Description:

Harvest Seasons: Fall

Harvest Comments:

Habitats: Dry Prairie grasslands, Wet Prairie grasslands with flooding, Deciduous Swamp no coniferous domts., Human-Disturbed Areas

Uses: Food

Locations: Seven Pillars

Media

Sources

Gatschet, A.S. ca. 1895

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

In the traditional story of Young Thunder, William Pekongah, he describes the crops he had growing on his land 160 acres of reserve in central Indiana. "There I planted corn, wheat, potatoes, peas, tobacco, beans, apple trees, pumpkins, watermelons, cucumbers, onions, hay, straw, gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, turnips, tomatoes, pawpaws, cherries, strawberries, plums, blackhaws, peaches, walnut trees, pecans, hickory nuts, barley and rye".

Comments: N/A

Dunn, J.P. ca. 1900

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"missiminjakwi, pawpaw trees, eat pawpaws"

Comments: N/A

Pease, T. C. and R. C. Werner 1934

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"There were other trees as thick as one's leg, which bend under a yellowish fruit of the shape and size of a medium-sized cucumber, which the savages call assemina. . . They have five or six nuclei inside which are as big as marsh beans, and of about the same shape. I ate, one day, sixty of them, big and little. This fruit does not ripen till October, like the medlars" ("il y en avoit encore d'autres gros comme la jambe qui ployoient d'un fruit jaunastre de la figure et grosseur d'un moyen concombre que les sauvages appellent assemina, . . . Ils ont 5 ou 6 noyaux dedans qui sont gros comme de fevves de marais, et a peu pres faits de meme, j'en ay mange unjour soixante tant gros que petits, il n'est mure qu'au mois d'ocotobre, aussi bien que les neifles").

Comments: N/A

Rafert, S. 1996

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

Pawpaws were used as a snack food when in the woods.

Comments: N/A

Gatschet, A.S. ca. 1895

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"nasimini patek, the paw-paw fruit has fried, or dries up"

Comments: N/A

Gatschet, A.S. ca. 1895

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"nuxsiminaxkwi, the pawpaw tree and its fruit . . . the fruit is pulpy and higly prized on account of its sweet nutritious quality, shape oblong and up to four inches in length or over".

Comments: N/A

Gatschet, A.S. ca. 1895

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"noohsiimi$aahkwi", "noohsiiminaahkwi", and "nuximinaxkwaki" for the pawpaw fruit

Comments: N/A

Gatschet, A.S. ca. 1895

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"missi=mishaxkwi, pawpaw tree"

Comments: N/A

Rafert, S. 1989

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"Pawpaws they ate. That was considered a fruit and I still eat them. And by the way, there are going to be some this year. We're going to have a good pawpaw season. . . I eat them when they are dead ripe. And I can go through the woods, and smell it’s the time to hunt pawpaws. I just beat the 'coons and 'possums by a little bit. I introduced all my nephews and my grandsons to eating pawpaws. And the way to introduce 'em to it is to get them good and hungry out in the woods, and then as a last resort they'll eat one of 'em".

Comments: N/A

Gonella, M.P 2003-2006

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

The fruits of pawpaw are gathered and eaten.

Comments: N/A

Dunn, J.P. ca. 1900

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

[The Myaamia] eat paw paws.

Comments: N/A

Gleason, H.A. and Cronquist, A. 1991

Reference Type: Habitat

Archival Data :

Occurs in rich, damp woods in eastern and western Myaamia lands.

Comments: N/A

Rafert, S. 1989

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

Dunn gives the Myaamia term "ha?siimi" for pawpaw.

Comments: N/A

Gonella, M.P 2003-2006

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

There is an area in the heart of eastern Myaamia lands called pawpaw alley, east of Peru along Highway 19.

Comments: N/A

Anonymous 1837

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

pawpaw mentioned

Comments: N/A

Dunn, J.P. ca. 1900

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

"mihsimini lakiihkwi", pawpaw bark

Comments: N/A

Dunn, J.P. ca. 1900

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

Paw paws were mentioned by Euclistia Mongosa

Comments: N/A

Whitford, A. C. 1941

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

Fibers from stems used in numerous historic objects, including coarse bags, fabrics and split bark bags of Ohio cave and rock-shelter dwellers, a bag from the Menomini where the pawpaw fiber is used only in the weft, a Potawatomi bag. Its use seems only limited by its distribution.

Comments: N/A

Clark, J.E 1993

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

The Shawnee collected this plant.

Comments: N/A

Legends

L.: L. stands for Carl Linneaus, a Swedish botanist and zoologist living from 1707 - 1778, who formed the binomial nomenclature system for scientific naming of species (the two part name). His initial after a scientific name indicates he was the authority for that species name.
sp.: Indicates the actual species name cannot or need not be specified. Example: Lilium sp. indicates a single species in the genus Lilium that is not known or does not need to be specified.
spp.: (plural) indicates "several species", two or more species of the given genus. Example: Lilium spp. indicates 2 or more species in the genus that cannot or do not need to be distinguished.
Use - Unknown: A record for this plant exists but does not include explicit information about the plant's cultural use. It is probable the Myaamia used the plant.
Botanical Sources: Sources of any botanical data for this plant species that is not related to its cultural use or significance.
Related Sources: Data indirectly related to Myaamia ethnobotany, including non-Myaamia uses of the plant in contemporary and historic times.
Myaamia Archival Sources: All records of plant use obtained directly from a Myaamia tribal member in an interview, recorded by a second party or by self-recording.
Undetermined (Plant Use): There exists use or other information about a certain, unknown plant species, but the specific species has not yet been determined.
Medicinal: For the purposes of this database, medicinal uses of plants and medicinal knowledge are defined as: Commonly held communal knowledge regarding the use of plant-based substances that aid in maintaining a healthy mind, body or spirit, including tonics and teas.
Technology: For the purposes of this database, technological uses of plants are defined as: Plants used in the making of food processing, canoes, rafts, dyes, tools, utensils, weapons, hunting and fishing gear (i.e. net, weir, etc.), cordage, string, rope, fodder plant species, firewood, any plants used in trade, etc.
Material: For the purposes of this database, material uses of plants are defined as: Plants used in construction of dwellings (floor mats, roofing, side walls), furniture, baskets, storage items, musical instruments, games, crafts, jewelry, cordage used in crafts, etc.
Food: For the purposes of this database, food uses of plants are defined as: Plants used as consumed food, spices and seasonings, but not teas or tonics.
Customs: For the purposes of this database, customary uses of plants are defined as: Plants involved in a customary ceremony, ritual or traditional event, including ritual smoking, chewing tobacco, war rituals, special mats used to sit on during ceremonies. Customary uses of plants, in this database, does not including plants used for recreation (material), structures where ceremonies take place (material) or medicinal smoking (medicinal).
Eastern Myaamia Lands: Eastern Myaamia lands (eastern myaamionki) are centered around northern Indiana, and including western Ohio, eastern Illinois, southern Michigan, and the northernmost portions of Kentucky.
Western Myaamia Lands: Western Myaamia lands (western myaamionki) include western Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma.