native plants

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Driving onto the Jean Ellen duPont Shehan Audubon Sanctuary, it is easy to get swept up in the stately pines, wide expanses of fields, and abundant deer. Because of this, sometimes the less obvious plants and animals of this Audubon site get missed. The Common Persimmon, Diospyros virginiana, is a good example of this. While common throughout the Sanctuary and the eastern United States, these trees are rarely found in the upper stories of the forest canopy and often sun along the edges of fields and forest.

Common Persimmon is found from southern Connecticut south to Florida and westward through Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. They grow on rocky hillsides, in river valleys, abandoned fields, and farmlands (Petrides 1986). Persimmons do not grow in the higher elevations of the Appalachians, or in the oak-hickory type forest of the Allegheny Plateau, instead preferring the coastal planes of the east and gulf coasts (Morris, 1965). These areas have high humidity and an average rainfall of about 48 inches. In dryer areas, the growth rate is generally slow and the trees are more shrub like. The hardiness of this tree, coupled with a natural resistance to disease and insects, make it a valuable ornamental tree (Lowell, unavalible).

Due to the Persimmon's general lack of size, it has limited use as a source of commercial timber. The value of the wood lies in its incredible strength and hardness. In our region, only the Black Locust has a stronger wood, and only the Ironwood and Dogwood have a wood that is harder. Persimmon was sought after for use as the shuttle of textile looms, because of their ability to withstand the furious activity (Petrides, 1986). Before the advent of newer materials in golf club heads, such as titanium, the wood of the Persimmon was valued for its ability to withstand the sudden impact of the golf swing. Along with golf clubs, Persimmon wood was used to make other products that required strength and durability (Peattie, 1948).

While the wood is used for lumber, the fruit of the Persimmon finds a wide variety of uses for both human and animals alike. Deer, skunk, songbirds, bobwhite, and rabbits, are just a few of the animals to derive nourishment from Persimmon fruit. When dried, the fruit is sometimes added to breads and other baked goods. During the civil war confederate soldiers drank a mixture of boiled Persimmon seeds as a substitute for coffee. The Spanish explorer Desoto was offered loaves made of Persimmon by the Native Americans in the Memphis area, and English Naturalist John Bradbury was offered similar Persimmon bread by the Osage tribe (Petrides, 1948). While it was used extensively in previous times, its modern usage is limited. This may derive from a very bitter tannic taste not soon forgotten if the fruit is tasted when not ripe. Captain John Smith, English explorer of the Chesapeake Bay, commented, "If not be ripe, it will draw a man's mouth awrie with much torment" (Peattie, 1948), and Gilbert Byron, a naturalist and writer from St.Michaels, mentions the puckering qualities of the Persimmon in his renowned book, The Lord's Oysters. With most of these trees, it takes until late fall and early winter until the fruit is ripe. The color at this time is a unique orange, and the skin is unappetizingly wrinkled.

In the early stages of winter, and the first frost is behind us, the Persimmon fruit is abundant and ready to be eaten. If you are interested in seeing a Common Persimmon or learning more about the Jean Ellen duPont Shehan Audubon Sanctuary please call 410-745-9283 to arrange a visit or click here!

A medium sized (25 ft.) understory tree or shrub native to the eastern United States, the pawpaw tree (Asimina trilobia) is the only temperate member of the tropical Annonoceae family. The pawpaw is the largest edible fruit native to North America, measuring 3 to 6 inches in length and weighing in at 5 to 16 ounces. North of Maryland the pawpaw's range extends into portions of Pennsylvania and along the Great Lakes into New York. South of us, it is found into northern Georgia and all except the southern part of Alabama, and then swings west to Nebraska. With the exception of an area along the coast near the North Carolina/South Carolina border, the pawpaw is absent from coastal areas; this includes a large portion of Maryland's Eastern Shore. Also, a few sub-species are found scattered through southern Georgia and Florida's panhandle.

It is not the purpose here to argue the pawpaw's value in terms of connectivity of all organisms within an ecosystem. (Although the zebra swallowtail butterfly would support this argument, as it depends exclusively on the pawpaw as it food source in its larval stage.) Instead, it is to discuss what attributes of the pawpaw directly influence our well-being. They include:

Cancer fighter: Experiments suggest that more than 40 compounds made from the bark, leaf, and fruit of the pawpaw have anti-cancer properties. Some of these compounds kill cancer cells that have developed resistance to anti-cancer agents such as those used in chemotherapy. English researchers are in a worldwide race to synthesize this chemical. (Unless the pawpaws being used in English research originate from trees secured from the U.S. prior to our independence, I suspect the U.S. is due some compensation!) Another of the pawpaw's compounds shows promise against breast cancer.

Pesticides: Pawpaws are relatively free of pests and diseases. Extracts from the fruit's skin, bark, and leaves are being isolated for pesticide use. (Folk medicine practicers applied powdered seeds to the heads of children to control lice.)

Food: While pawpaw domestication is in its infancy (maybe toddler), there are over 60 pawpaw cultivars (varieties). According to the Kentucky State University, pawpaws "are high in vitamin C, magnesium, iron, copper, and manganese. They are a good source of potassium and several essential amino acids, and they also contain significant amounts of riboflavin, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, and zinc. Pawpaws contain these nutrients in amounts that are generally about the same as or greater than those found in bananas, apples, or oranges."

Erosion Control: Many states, including Maryland, are recommending planting of pawpaws in stream bank buffers. Showing a preference for deep well drained soils, pawpaws are found along streams and in bottomlands. (Although two sites I am familiar with along the Susquehanna River are far above the river and not particularly close to streams.)

Granted every native plant, animal or microorganism won't achieve the "usefulness" of the pawpaw. We will have to be satisfied that all life helps energy transfer more efficiently through the ecosystem. But which ones are in the pawpaw's league? Can we ever safely say an organism is "useless" from an economic standpoint? Where would we be without the pawpaw?

But for me the real value of the pawpaw is captured in the Pawpaw Patch song. The pawpaw patch is a place for kids to celebrate nature! It is a place to escape television and video games! It is a place to get away from the unnatural noise and stresses that confront us daily.

Nature Link: Native Plants