For almost a century, the tulip tree has been Indiana’s state tree. The tree is common and can be found throughout the state, prized for its beauty. However, there is a small, virtually ignored understory tree, known as the common pawpaw, or the Indiana banana. Though less than half of Indiana residents know of its existence, the tree is prized for its delicious tropical tasting fruits that some compare to a cross between a mango and banana that fall ripe to the ground in the fall. They can be substituted in recipes that call for bananas and freeze well. They have alien-like wine colored blooms in the spring, smelling like fermented fruit. The pawpaw tree is also the host of the beloved zebra swallowtail butterfly. Who would guess that such a unique tree could be found in the Midwest? Though many people can’t recall the tree, it isn’t rare. Wherever there is a forest with room for them to grow, you can find the Indiana Banana in large groves. Around each large fruit-producing pawpaw is a handful of seedlings. They take up to ten years to produce fruit, and they create it in abundance, usually in a bunch of two or three. Each fruit is about the size of a fist or as small as the length of a thumb. The Indiana Banana remains largely a secret to the United States, so why must it remain hidden? The pawpaw deserves its chance to be revealed as our state tree, and appreciated for everything is has to offer.