Who We Are
We are one organization with two locations at the University of Michigan. Our mission is to promote environmental enjoyment, stewardship, and sustainability through education, research, and interaction with the natural world.
Holiday Exhibit: The Greenhouse Gallery
Our holiday 2021 conservatory exhibit reveals how plants and nature contain all the elements and principles of art and design. Learn more.
We offer amazing opportunities for classroom groups to visit Matthaei in person or virtually. Both kinds of field trips are easy to schedule, interactive, and fun. Click here or on the image above to learn more.
Data Resources
Fall 2021: The conservatory and display gardens are open to the public! Click here for info.
Earth Words (our blog)
Native Plant of the Week: Pawpaw
Pawpaw fruit. Photo: Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.Pawpaw flowers. Photo: Missouri Botanical Garden.Pawpaw leaves. Photo: Plant Image Library.By Joseph Mooney Native plant of the week: Pawpaw (Asimina triloba). A taste of the tropics right here in Michigan. This...
Photo Gallery: The Seasons of Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum
Photographer John Metzler visits the arb and gardens a lot, coming out in every kind of weather to take photos of our spaces. John's pictures truly capture the beauty, grace, and wit of nature in all its forms. Click on any of the images below to open the gallery.
Native Plant of the Week: Red Osier Dogwood
The red osier dogwood's bluish-white berries are often enjoyed by birds and mammals.The best time to see red osier dogwoods' yellowish-white flowers is between late May and early June.Most often found in swampy marsh areas, the red osier dogwood flourishes in moist or...
Native Plant of the Week: Witch Hazel
Witch hazel's curly, ribbon-like flowers bloom in October and November. Photo: Katie Stannard.Young witch hazel fruit. Photo: B.S. Walters, michiganflora.net.Witch hazel leaves. Photo: R. Schipper, michiganflora.net.By Katie Stannard Thank you for native plants! Our...
Invasive of the Week: Teasel Species (Dipsacus)
Common teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) flower. Photo: David Cappaert, bugwood.org.Cutleaf teasel (Dipsacus lacianatus) flowers. Photo: Chris Evans, University of Illinois, bugwood.org.Teasel infestation. Photo: Frances Lucero.Common teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) rosettes....
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![Native plant of the week: Pawpaw (Asimina triloba). A taste of the tropics right here in Michigan.
This week’s native plant is the pawpaw, a plant that’s been getting a lot of attention lately for its tropical-tasting fruits, likened to the flavors of banana, mango, and pineapple. The pungently scented fruit can be eaten raw or cooked and needs ripening in a well-ventilated area until the skin turns yellow to brown and the flesh is soft.
Pawpaw is found from western New York west to eastern Texas and east to the Florida panhandle. It’s an understory tree that tolerates shade and likes its feet consistently moist, rich, and well-drained. Pawpaw grows to about 30 feet and is hardy in zones 5a-8b. The University of Michigan Herbarium reports that pawpaw has been found in most of the lower tier of Michigan counties. Southern Michigan is generally the northernmost range of this tree that hails from the mostly tropical Annonaceae family. This family includes soursop and custard-apple.
Asimina triloba’s growth habit is clonal, and it can form small colonies. To produce fruits, pawpaw’s flowers must be cross-pollinated from genetically distinct plants. The fly-pollinated flowers are reddish and give off a disagreeable odor. The drooping leaves may be up to a foot long and give the tree a tropical look. In fall the leaves turn yellow.
It’s known that pawpaw was important in many early Indigenous diets. In his book “Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit,” food author Andrew Moore writes that “pawpaw seeds and other remnants have been found at archaeological sites of the earliest Native Americans, and in large, concentrated amounts . . . whether at Meadowcroft [a national historic landmark in Washington County, Pa.] or the rugged hills of Arkansas, the earliest Americans put pawpaws to great use.”
Beside the cool leaves and flowers and tasty fruit, A. triloba just keeps giving us more reasons to like it: it’s the larval host of the elegant zebra swallowtail butterfly (Eurytides marcellus) and the pawpaw sphinx moth (Dolba hyloeus).](https://mbgna.umich.edu/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
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