Did you ever think that your old Paw-Paw was kind of, well, fruity? Most grandfathers can get pretty silly with their grandkids (unless they’re too busy cursing at the neighborhood rug rats to get off their lawns…), but the pawpaw tree, native to Maryland, is actually famous for its fruit.

It’s actually small tree or shrub, a member of the custard-apple family; so it’s no surprise that its fruit can be pretty popular. They’re not apples, however, but large berries that are full of seeds. They start as green fruits, blooming in September and October, and mature into yellow or brown berries, featuring similar flavors to mangoes or bananas. This also isn’t a surprise, considering that the custard-apple family is a tropical group of trees. In fact, the pawpaw is the only member of the family that’s native to northeastern America.

The fruit, which have a very short shelf-life and ripen in early fall, is high in protein and a prime candidate for pressure canning or preserves-making. People in Maryland often make banana nut cake with the pawpaw fruit as a replacement for bananas.  Aside from humans, other animals enjoy the fruit as well—including raccoons, wild turkeys, bears, and opossums.

Some homeopaths use the tree’s fruit in herbal remedies. They claim it has values as a laxative, diuretic, narcotic, and insecticide. The also say that it has the power to heal abscesses and stop head lice.

Pawpaw trees, which feature pale green wood and dark brown, blotchy bark, can usually be found in deep bottomland or hilly upland places that are well drained of water. Clusters of six-petaled white, purple, or red-brown flowers bloom on the tree in April.

As insect-pollinated trees, pawpaws don’t receive as much pollination as many other fruit-bearing trees because their scent is so weak. The insects that are attracted to the tree are usually scavenger bugs instead, such as beetles or fruit flies. To increase pollination, sometimes growers place rotting meat or road kill by the trees.

Does pawpaw sound familiar (other than the Old Spice-scented man who used to bounce you on your knee)? You may also know it as Indiana banana, West Virginia banana, prairie banana, Missouri banana, the poor man’s banana, or Ozark banana. It’s also spelled paw-paw and papaw. It’s also related to the ylang-ylang, sweetsop, cherimoya, and soursop family. They are also the main source of food for the zebra swallowtail butterfly.