Pawpaw, Asimina triloba

Today at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis I photographed this wild banana tree; the Pawpaw. It is a native tree here and it occurs in the wild at the PGT. We should see it start to bloom soon since we are about a week behind St. Louis bloom times.

Peter Raven (the former director at the garden) suggested that if I want to see the wild bananas that I should hang a dead animal near the blooms to attract carrion flies. They pollinate the flowers.