Today, we returned to one of our favorite wild pawpaw patches in western New York and found hundreds of beautiful purple flowers! The flowers have opened before the leaves appeared. The beautiful flowers are the same rich red-purple color of many of the flowers of the Amorphophallus ‘corpse’ flowers, and there is even a resemblence to that odor, as the pollinator is a carrion fly. No pollinators were in sight, but Eric did find six dog ticks walking around on his clothes, so they are definitely awake. If all goes well, there should be a nice bunch of pawpaws for picking later in the fall and making our delicious pawpaw liqueur!
