Annona squamosa

Annona squamosa
Sugar-apple
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Magnoliids
Order: Magnoliales
Family: Annonaceae
Genus: Annona
Species: A. squamosa
Binomial name
Annona squamosa
L.[1]
Synonyms

Annona asiatica L.[2]
Annona cinerea Dunal
Guanabanus squamosus (L.)M.Gómez[3] Xylopia frutescens
Xylopia glabra L.[4]
Annona biflora Moç & Sessé
Annona forskahlii DC.[5]

Annona squamosa a small well-branched tree or shrub[6] that bears edible fruits called sugar-apple, species of the genus Annona and member of the family Annonaceae more willing to grow at lower altitudes than its relatives Annona reticulata and Annona cherimola[5] (whose fruits often share the same name)[2] making it the most widely cultivated of these species.[7]

Contents

Common names

Description

Annona squamosa is a small, semi-(or late) deciduous,[12] much branched shrub or small tree 3 metres (9.8 ft)[6] to 8 metres (26 ft) tall[12] very similar to soursop (Annona muricata)[10] with a broad, open crown or irregularly spreading branches[5] and a short trunk short, not buttressed at base.[12] The fruit of A. squamosa has delicious whitish pulp, and is popular in tropical markets.[12]

Stems and leaves
Branches with light brown bark and visible leaf scars; inner bark light yellow and slightly bitter; twigs become brown with light brown dots (lenticels - small, oval, rounded spots upon the stem or branch of a plant, from which the underlying tissues may protrude or roots may issue).[5]
Thin leaves[10] occur singly,[5] 5 centimetres (2.0 in) to 17 centimetres (6.7 in) long and 2 centimetres (0.79 in)[12] to 6 centimetres (2.4 in) wide;[5] rounded at the base and pointed at the tip.[12] Pale green on both surfaces and mostly hairless[5] with slight hairs on the underside when young.[6] The sides sometimes are slightly unequal and the leaf edges are without teeth, inconspicuously hairy when young.[5][10]
Leaf stalks are 0.4 centimetres (0.16 in) to 2.2 centimetres (0.87 in)[12] long, green, sparsely pubescent[5]
Flowers
Solitary or in short lateral clusters about 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) long, 2-4,[12] greenish-yellow flowers on a hairy, slender[5] 2 centimetres (0.79 in) long stalk.[12] Green outer petals, purplish at the base, oblong, 1.6 centimetres (0.63 in) to 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) long, and 0.6 centimetres (0.24 in) to 0.75 centimetres (0.30 in) wide, inner petals reduced to minute scales or absent.[6][12] Very numerous stamens; crowded, white, less than 1.6 centimetres (0.63 in) long; ovary light green. Styles white, crowded on the raised axis. Each pistil forms a separate tubercle (small rounded wartlike protuberance), mostly 1.3 centimetres (0.51 in) to 1.9 centimetres (0.75 in) long and 0.6 centimetres (0.24 in) to 1.3 centimetres (0.51 in) wide which matures into the aggregate fruit.[5]
Flowering occurs in spring-early summer[12] and flowers are pollinated by nitidulid beetles.[13]
Fruits and reproduction
Aggregate and soft fruits form from the numerous and loosely united pistils of a flower[5] which become enlarged[12] and mature into fruits which are distinct from fruits of other species of genus[5] (and more like a giant raspberry instead).
The round or heart-shaped[5] greenish yellow, ripened aggregate fruit is pendulous[12] on a thickened stalk; 5 centimetres (2.0 in)[5][6] to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in diameter[10][12] with many round protuberances[5] and covered with a powdery bloom. Fruits are formed of loosely cohering or almost free carpels (the ripened pistels).[6]
The pulp is white tinged yellow,[6] edible and sweetly aromatic. Each carpel containing an oblong, shiny and smooth,[5] dark brown[6] to black, 1.3 centimetres (0.51 in) to 1.6 centimetres (0.63 in) long seed.[5]

Distribution

Annona squamosa is willing to grow at altitudes of 0 metres (0 ft) to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) and does well in hot dry climates; at much lower altitudes than many of the other fruit bearers in its family.[5][10]

Native
Neotropic
Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Virgin Islands.
Central America: El Salvador
Northern South America: French Guyana, Guyana, Venezuela
Western South America: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
Southern South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay[5]
Current (naturalized and native)
Neotropic
Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Florida, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Virgin Islands.
Pacific: Samoa, Tonga
Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama
Northern South America: French Guyana, Guyana, Venezuela
Western South America: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
Southern South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
Afrotropic: Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zanzibar
Australasia: Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands
Indomalaya: Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam
Palearctic: Cyprus, Greece, Malta[5]

Azores (Pico Island), Portugal

Uses

For uses of fruit from the Custard-apple family see:

References

  1. ^ Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). "PLANTS Profile, Annona squamosa L.". The PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture,. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ANSQ. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  2. ^ a b c Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) (1997-07-11). "Taxon: Annona squamosa L.". Taxonomy for Plants. USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program, National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?3503. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  3. ^ Dr. Richard Wunderlin, Dr. Bruce Hansen. "synonyms of Annona squamosa". Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants. Institute for Systematic Botany, University of Florida. http://www.plantatlas.usf.edu/synonyms.asp?plantID=1995. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  4. ^ Missouri Botanical Garden (1753). "Annona squamosa L.". Tropicos. http://www.tropicos.org/NameSynonyms.aspx?nameid=1600002. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Current name: Annona squamosa". AgroForestryTree Database. International Center For Research In Agroforestry. http://www.worldagroforestry.org/Sea/Products/AFDbases/AF/asp/SpeciesInfo.asp?SpID=214. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Aluka. "Annona squamosa L. [family ANNONACEAE"]. African Plants. Ithaka Harbors, Inc. http://www.aluka.org/action/showCompilationPage?doi=10.5555/AL.AP.COMPILATION.PLANT-NAME-SPECIES.ANNONA.SQUAMOSA. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  7. ^ Morton, J. (1987). "Sugar Apple Annona squamosa". Fruits of warm climates. Department of Horticulture & Landscape Architecture, Purdue University. http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/sugar_apple.html. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  8. ^ efloras.org. "Annona squamosa Linn.". Chinese Plant Names. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=3&taxon_id=200008509. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  9. ^ Porcher, Michel H. et al.. "Annona squamosa L.". Sorting Annona Names. Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database - A Work in Progress. Institute of Land & Food Resources, University of Melbourne. http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Annona.html#squamosa. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  10. ^ a b c d e f Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) (2008-01-05). "Annona squamosa (PIER Species info)". PIER species lists. United States Geological Survey & United States Forest Service. http://www.hear.org/pier/species/annona_squamosa.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-17. "Stone, Benjamin C. 1970. The flora of Guam. Micronesica 6:1-659." 
  11. ^ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2007-11-21). "AGROVOC Thesaurus". AGROVOC. United Nations. http://www.fao.org/aims/ag_intro.htm?termid=455. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Flora of North America. "2. Annona squamosa Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 537. 1753". Flora of North America 3. 
  13. ^ McGregor, S.E. Insect Pollination Of Cultivated Crop Plants USDA, 1976

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Annona_squamosa Annona squamosa] at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Annona squamosa at Wikispecies