The genus includes the widespread common pawpaw Asimina triloba, which bears the largest edible fruit indigenous to the United States.

[5][6] The common pawpaw is a patch-forming (clonal) understory tree found in well-drained, deep, fertile bottomland and hilly upland habitat.

[1][12][13] The common pawpaw is native to shady, rich bottom lands, where it often forms a dense undergrowth in the forest, often appearing as a patch or thicket of individual, small, slender trees.

[27] Larvae of the zebra swallowtail butterfly feed exclusively on young leaves of the various pawpaw species, but never occur in great numbers on the plants.

[29] Wild-collected fruits of the common pawpaw (A. triloba) have long been a favorite treat throughout the tree's extensive native range in eastern North America.

The common pawpaw is of interest in ecological restoration plantings, since this tree grows well in wet soil and has a strong tendency to form well-rooted clonal thickets.

[citation needed] The earliest documentation of pawpaws is in the 1541 report of the Spanish de Soto expedition, who found Native Americans cultivating it east of the Mississippi River.

Chilled pawpaw fruit was a favorite dessert of George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson planted it at his home in Virginia, Monticello.