Florida is home to some unique habitats you won’t find anywhere else. In fact, the Florida Everglades are the only place in the world where you can see both wild alligators and crocodiles . The state also hosts some exclusive flora, including a show-stopping plant — but you won’t find it at your local garden center anytime soon. The four-petal pawpaw (Asimina tetramera) is an endangered shrub found only in the state of Florida. Unlike the related species simply called pawpaw (Asimina triloba), four-petal pawpaw has most likely never grown very far north. As of this writing, there are only three areas where this shrub is found, all in southeast Florida: northern Martin County near Jensen Beach, southern Martin County in Jonathan Dickinson State Park (JDSP), and northern Palm Beach County. These locations are all disconnected, which means that all three remaining wild pawpaw populations are isolated from each other. However, plants can live to 100 years old, if not longer.
A large, berry-producing shrub, the four-petal pawpaw can reach 10 to 15 feet in height, making it one of the taller in the pawpaw genus. The fruit it produces is yellow-green and smells similar to bananas, and serves as a treat for racoons, mice, and gopher tortoises. One of its strange characteristics is to give off a foul smell similar to fermenting fruit to attract different pollinators to its flowers as it begins to release pollen. The main pollinators of this shrub are beetles. A unique, one-of-the-kind type of species, four-petal pawpaw exhibits a color-changing effect in its leaves as they mature. The flowers start out as cream-colored and eventually turn maroon or yellow.
Why The Four-Petal Pawpaw Won’t Pop Up In Your Home Garden
While you might want to step up to grow the endangered four-petal pawpaw in your garden, it’s actually impossible for the average gardener. The cultivation of the four-petal pawpaw tree has been heavily regulated for years. This species is classified as endangered because of increased development and not enough protection of wild habitats. And while those who spend time outdoors go out of their way to prevent wildfires , it’s the decrease of them that has hurt this shrub. Similar to the way some plants require cold stratification, the four-petal pawpaw needs controlled burns to thrive. It’s also important to note that even if it were not regulated, it is incredibly difficult to successfully grow a four-petal pawpaw shrub. Research indicates that the range of this plant never extended far outside of its current area.
If you want to have any chance of seeing four-petal pawpaw in person, your best option is the Nathaniel P. Reed Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge. At this spot you can find the largest contiguous portion of undeveloped beach in southeastern Florida, a sand pine scrub habitat where four-petal pawpaws thrive. Other pawpaw plants are located at Bok Tower Gardens in the town of Lake Wales, Florida. The plants at Bok Tower Gardens were first planted in 1988 and have been carefully monitored ever since. But even after years of recovery plans for this species, there are now fewer areas where four-petal pawpaws grow than there were years ago. Like many other places for last-chance tourism , if you want to see plant, you should try and do so sooner than later — eventually, it might be difficult to find this flowering shrub anywhere in the world, even Florida…