Anona.

Major entries:

Anona cherimola, Cherimalla. Cherimoya. Cherimoyer. Custard Apple.

Anona muricata, Corossol. Prickly Custard Apple. Soursop.

Anona palustris, Alligator Apple. Cork-Wood. Monkey Apple. Pond Apple.

Anona reticulata, Anon. Bullock's Heart. Corazon. Corossol. Custard Apple.

Anona squamosa, Anon. Sugar Apple. Sweetsop.

Anona asiatica Linn. Anonaceae.

Ceylon and cultivated in Cochin China. The oblong-conical fruit, red on the outside, is filled with a whitish, eatable pulp but is inferior in flavor to that of A. squamosa.

Anona cherimola Mill. Cherimalla. Cherimoya. Cherimoyer. Custard Apple.

American tropics. Originally from Peru, this species seems to be naturalized only in the mountains of Port Royal in Jamaica. Venezuela, New Granada and Brazil know it only as a plant of cultivation. It has been carried to the Cape Verde Islands and to Guinea. The cherimoya is not mentioned among the fruits of Florida by Atwood in 1867 but is included in the American Pomological Society's list for 1879. In 1870, specimens were growing at the United States Conservatory in Washington. The fruit is esteemed by the Peruvians as not inferior to any fruit of the world. Humboldt speaks of it in terms of praise. Herndon says Huanuco is par excellence the country of the celebrated cherimoya, and that he has seen it there quite twice as large as it is generally seen in Lima and of the most delicious flavor. Masters says, however, that Europeans do not confirm the claims of the cherimoya to superiority among fruits, and the verdict is probably justified by the scant mention by travellers and the limited diffusion.

Anona cinerea Dunal. Anon. Sugar Apple. Sweetsop.

West Indies. This species is placed by Unger among edible fruit-bearing plants.

Anona muricata Linn. Corossol. Prickly Custard Apple. Soursop.

Tropical America. This tree grows wild in Barbados and Jamaica but in Surinam has only escaped from gardens. It is cultivated in the whole of Brazil, Peru and Mexico. In Jamaica, the fruit is sought after only by negroes. The plant has quite recently been carried to Sierra Leone. It is not mentioned among the fruits of Florida by Atwood in 1867 but is included in the American Pomological Society's list for 1879. The smell and taste of the fruit, flowers and whole plant resemble much those of the black currant. The pulp of the fruit, says Lunan, is soft, white and of a sweetish taste, intermixed with oblong, dark colored seeds, and, according to Sloane, the unripe fruit dressed like turnips tastes like them. Morelet says the rind of the fruit is thin, covering a white, unctuous pulp of a peculiar, but delicious, taste, which leaves on the palate a flavor of perfumed cream. It has a peculiarly agreeable flavor although coupled with a biting wild taste. Church says its leaves form corossol tea.

Anona paludosa Aubl.

Guiana, growing upon marshy meadows. The species bears elongated, yellow berries, the size of a hen's egg, which have a juicy flesh.

Anona palustris Linn. Alligator Apple. Cork-Wood. Monkey Apple. Pond Apple.

American and African tropics. The plant bears fruit the size of the fist. The seeds, as large as a bean, lie in an orange-colored pulp of an unsavory taste but which has something of the smell and relish of an orange. The fruit is considered narcotic and even poisonous in Jamaica but of the latter we have, says Lunan, no certain proof. The wood of the tree is so soft and compressible that the people of Jamaica call it corkwood and employ it for stoppers.

Anona punctata Aubl.

Guiana. The plant bears a brown, oval, smooth fruit about three inches in diameter with little reticulations on its surface. The flesh is reddish, gritty and filled with little seeds. It has a good flavor and is eaten with pleasure. It is the pinaou of Guiana.

Anona reticulata Linn. Anon. Bullock's Heart. Corazon. Corossol. Custard Apple.

Tropical America. Cultivated in Peru, Brazil, in Malabar and the East Indies. This delicious fruit is produced in Florida in excellent perfection as far north as St. Augustine; it is easily propagated from seed. Masters says its yellowish pulp is not so much relished as that of the soursop or cherimoyer. Lunan says, in Jamaica, the fruit is much esteemed by some people. Unger says it is highly prized but he calls the fruit brown, the size of the fist, while Lunan says brown, shining, of a yellow or orange color, with a reddishness on one side when ripe.

Anona senegalensis Pers.

African tropics and Guiana. The fruit is not much larger than a pigeon's egg but its flavor is said, by Savine, to be superior to most of the other fruits of this genus.

Anona squamosa Linn. Anon. Sugar Apple. Sweetsop.

It is uncertain whether the native land of this tree is to be looked for in Mexico, or on the plains along the mouth of the Amazon. Von Martius found it forming forest groves in Para. It is cultivated in tropical America and the West Indies and was early transported to China, Cochin China, the Philippines and India. The fruit is conical or pear-shaped with a greenish, imbricated, scaly shell. The flesh is white, full of long, brown granules, very aromatic and of an agreeable strawberry-like, piquant taste. Rhind says the pulp is delicious, having the odor of rose water and tasting like clotted cream mixed with sugar. Masters says the fruit is highly relished by the Creoles but is little esteemed by Europeans. Lunan says it is much esteemed by those who are fond of fruit in which sweet prevails. Drury says the fruit is delicious to the taste and on occasions of famine in India has literally proved the staff of life to the natives.

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.