Paw Paw River

The Paw Paw River is located in the U.S. state of Michigan in the southwest portion of the lower peninsula. It is formed by the confluence of the north and south branches at 42°15′17″N 85°55′36″W / 42.25472°N 85.92667°W / 42.25472; -85.92667 in Waverly Township in the northeast of Van Buren County. It flows approximately 61.8 miles (99.5 km) through Van Buren County and Berrien County until joining the St. Joseph River just above its mouth on Lake Michigan at Benton Harbor.

History

Native Americans named the Paw Paw River after the paw paw fruit that grew abundantly along the river's banks.

Ecology and conservation

The watershed includes rare Great Lakes marshes and floodplain forests, which serve as habitats for migratory birds such as the prothonotary warbler (commonly known as the golden swamp warbler), as well as the endangered Mitchell's satyr butterfly. Other rare species include the Massasauga rattlesnake and the spotted turtle.

In November 2003, The Nature Conservancy announced the purchase of 139 acres (0.6 km²) in the Paw Paw Prairie Fen, located in the East Branch of the river near Mattawan. The Sarett Nature Center owns 800 acres (3.2 km²) of along the river in Berrien County, just north of Benton Harbor.

Asimina triloba

Asimina triloba, the pawpaw, paw paw, paw-paw, or common pawpaw, is a species of Asimina (the pawpaw genus) in the same plant family (the Annonaceae) as the custard-apple, cherimoya, sweetsop, ylang-ylang and soursop. The pawpaw is native to the Eastern, Southern, and Midwestern United States and adjacent southernmost Ontario, Canada, from New York west to southeastern Nebraska, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. The pawpaw is a patch-forming (clonal) understory tree found in well-drained, deep, fertile bottom-land and hilly upland habitat, with large, simple leaves and large fruits. The paw paw is the largest edible fruit indigenous to the United States.

Names

This plant's scientific name is Asimina triloba. The genus name Asimina is adapted from the Native American (probably Miami-Illinois) name assimin or rassimin through the French colonial asiminier. The epithet triloba in the species' scientific name refers to the flowers' three-lobed calices and doubly three-lobed corollas, the shape not unlike a tricorne hat.

Paw Paw

Paw Paw, Paw paw, or pawpaw may refer to:

Plants and fruits

Places

See also

Paw Paw, Illinois

Paw Paw is a village in Lee County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the village was home to 870 people, up from 852 at the 2000 census. It was settled in the mid 19th century and by 1878 the village had a railroad connection. Paw Paw is home to a house which is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and was the recipient of a 2005 federal grant to construct a water tower.

History

In 1829, present-day Chicago Road was part of the Fink and Walker stagecoach line from Galena, Illinois to Chicago, though the Potawatomi Indians were the first to use the trail. The tribe didn't turn over the area to the U.S. government until 1833. Fink and Walker also held the mail contract for the area's settlers. The route became popular and garnered a mention in the work of writer Margaret Fuller.

Paw Paw's first permanent resident was David A. Town in 1834, a native of Vermont, Town settled on the south east side of a 2,000-acre (8 km²) wooded grove. The first cabin was built the next spring by Edward Butterfield on the site of present-day Paw Paw. This first house also held the village's first store and would eventually become the first structure in town to burn. During its earliest days the town was sectioned off into East, West and South Paw Paw, all of which became known as simply Paw Paw. In 1837, the village got its first postmaster, William Rodgers. Before Rodgers the nearest post office was 20 miles away in Somonauk. In 1839, a new road was constructed which allowed mail to be carried from Paw Paw to Princeton. The first stage coach station (known as a "Tavern") was built along Chicago Road and operated by Isaac Balding. Balding operated the station until the railroad came to town several years later.