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Species
Annona squamosa L.
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Annona squamosa, the sugar-apple, sweetsop, or sugar-pineapple, is a species in the Annonaceae family that is native to the tropical Americas and widely grown for its fragrant, juicy, and flavorful fruit, which contains more vitamin C than an orange. Sugar-apple is the most widely cultivated of tropical fruits in the family, which includes cherimoya (A. cherimola), sugar-apple (A. squamosa), and paw paw (Asimina triloba).
Sugar-apple is grown in lowland tropical climates worldwide, including in southern Mexico, the Antilles, and Central and South America, tropical Africa, Australia, Indonesia, Polynesia, and, in the U.S., in Hawaii and Florida. It was introduced to India and the Philippines by the Spanish and Portuguese in the 16th century, and has been cultivated there ever since. Its native range is not known due to extensive cultivation and naturalization, but is thought to have originated in the West Indies, and was first described from Jamaica (Ecocrop 2011, Flora of North America 2011, Wikipedia 2011). It is naturalized north to southern Florida in the United States and south to Bahia in Brazil, and in many parts of Asia, and is considered invasive in French Polynesia and several Pacific islands (PIER 2011).
Sugar-apple is a cold-intolerant, semi-evergreen shrub or small tree reaching 8 meters (26 ft), one of the smaller members of its genus. Trees may flower and bear fruit starting at 2–3 years of age. Fruit production can be prolific with adequate precipitation (>70 cm or 27 inches per year), but in non-native ranges is often limited by absence of native pollinators, which include various beetle species; flowers are too deep to be readily pollinated by honeybees (Apis mellifera). Hand pollination is used to increase yields (Wikipedia 2011).
The compound fruits are round to oblong, 6–10 cm (2.4–3.9 in) diameter, with a thick, scaly or knobby skin that gives them a pine-cone appearance. Fruits weigh 100–230 g (3.5–8.1 oz). The fruit flesh is fragrant, sweet, white to light yellow, with the texture and flavor of custard; the flavor is considered the best among fruits in the genus. Fruits are divided into 20–38 segments, each generally containing a hard, shiny brownish-black, seed, enmeshed in the flesh, although some trees produce seedless fruit (Morton 1987, Popenoe 1920). The fruits are generally eaten fresh, or used to make juice beverages or sorbet, and are a good source of iron, calcium, and phosphorus (Morton 1987).
The seeds are toxic, and have been used as an insecticide and to treat head lice (although the preparation is an eye-irritant and can cause blindness). Seeds are, however, high in oil, which can be used in soap manufacture or, if treated to remove the toxic alkaloids, as a cooking oil. Leaves, unripe fruits, and extracts of bark and root, all rather astringent, have been used in traditional medicine to treat fevers, rheumatism, diarrhea, dysentery, and other ailments. The aromatic leaves are occasionally used in perfumes, and fibers from the bark are used to make cords and ropes (Morton 1987).
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Annona squamosa is a small, well-branched tree or shrub[6] from the family Annonaceae that bears edible fruits called sugar-apples. It tolerates a tropical lowland climate better than its relatives Annona reticulata and Annona cherimola[5] (whose fruits often share the same name)[2] helping make it the most widely cultivated of these species.[7]
Contents
Description[edit]
Annona squamosa is a small, semi-(or late) deciduous,[8] much branched shrub or small tree 3 metres (9.8 ft)[6] to 8 metres (26 ft) tall[8] very similar to soursop (Annona muricata)[9] with a broad, open crown or irregularly spreading branches[5] and a short trunk short, not buttressed at base.[8] The fruit of A. squamosa (sugar-apple) has delicious whitish pulp, and is popular in tropical markets.[8]
- 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, simple, alternate leaves[9] occur singly,[5] 5 centimetres (2.0 in) to 17 centimetres (6.7 in) long and 2 centimetres (0.79 in)[8] to 6 centimetres (2.4 in) wide;[5] rounded at the base and pointed at the tip (oblong-lanceolate).[8] 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][9]
- Leaf stalks are 0.4 centimetres (0.16 in) to 2.2 centimetres (0.87 in)[8] long, green, sparsely pubescent[5]
- Flowers
- Solitary or in short lateral clusters of 2-4 about 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) long,[8] greenish-yellow flowers on a hairy, slender[5] 2 centimetres (0.79 in) long stalk.[8] Three 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, three inner petals reduced to minute scales or absent.[6][8] 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[8] and flowers are pollinated by nitidulid beetles.[10]
- Fruits and reproduction
- Aggregate and soft fruits form from the numerous and loosely united pistils of a flower[5] which become enlarged[8] 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[8] on a thickened stalk; 5 centimetres (2.0 in)[5][6] to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in diameter[9][8] 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[edit]
Annona squamosa is native to the tropical Americas and West Indies, but the exact origin is unknown. It is now the most widely cultivated of all the species of Annona, being grown for its fruit throughout the tropics and warmer subtropics, such as Indonesia, Thailand, and Taiwan; it was introduced to southern Asia before 1590. It is naturalized as far north as southern Florida in the United States and as south as Bahia in Brazil, and is an invasive species in some areas.[5][9][7]
- 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 Guatemala
- Northern South America: Suriname, 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: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam
- Palearctic: Cyprus, Greece, Malta[5]
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Azores (Pico Island), Portugal
Climate and Cultivation[edit]
Like most species of Annona, it requires a tropical or subtropical climate with summer temperatures from 25 °C (77 °F) to 41 °C (106 °F), and mean winter temperatures above 15 °C (59 °F). It is sensitive to cold and frost, being defoliated below 10 °C (50 °F) and killed by temperatures of a couple of degrees below freezing. It is only moderately drought-tolerant, requiring at least 700 mm of annual rainfall, and will not produce fruit well during droughts.
It will grow from sea level to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) and does well in hot dry climates, differing in its tolerance of lowland tropics from many of the other fruit bearers in the Annona family.
It is quite a prolific bearer, and it will produce fruit in as little as two to three years. A five-year-old tree can produce as many as 50 sugar apples. Poor fruit production has been reported in Florida because there are few natural pollinators (honeybees have a difficult time penetrating the tightly closed female flowers); however, hand pollination with a natural fiber brush is effective in increasing yield. Natural pollinators include beetles (coleoptera) of the families Nitidulidae, Staphylinidae, Chrysomelidae, Curculionidae and Scarabeidae.[7][11]
In the Philippines, the fruit is commonly eaten by the Philippine fruit bat (kabag or kabog), which then spreads the seeds from island to island.
It is a host plant for larvae of the butterfly Graphium agamemnon (tailed jay).
Uses[edit]
Heat-extracted oil from the seeds has been employed against agricultural pests.[citation needed] High concentrations are potent for 2 days and weaken steadily, all activity being lost after 8 days. See also Annonin.
In Mexico, the leaves are rubbed on floors and put in hens' nests to repel lice.[7]
For uses of the fruit, see sugar-apple.
Chemical constituents[edit]
The diterpenoid alkaloid atisine is the most abundant alkaloid in the root. Other constituents of Annona squamosa include oxophoebine,[12]reticuline,[12]atidine, histisine, hetisine, hetidine, heterophyllisine, heterophylline, heterlophylline, isoatisine, dihydroatisine, hetisinone benzoyl heteratisine and citronella oil.
Bayer AG has patented the extraction process and molecular identity of the annonaceous acetogenin annonin, as well as its use as a biopesticide.[13] Other bioactive acetogenins have been isolated from the seeds,[14] bark,[15] and leaves[16] of Annona squamosa.
References[edit]
- ^ Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). "PLANTS Profile, Annona squamosa L.". The PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture,. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
- ^ a b 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. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
- ^ Dr. Richard Wunderlin, Dr. Bruce Hansen. "synonyms of Annona squamosa". Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants. Institute for Systematic Botany, University of Florida. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
- ^ Missouri Botanical Garden (1753). "Annona squamosa L.". Tropicos. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
- ^ 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. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Aluka. "Annona squamosa L. [family ANNONACEAE]". African Plants. Ithaka Harbors, Inc. doi:10.5555/AL.AP.COMPILATION.PLANT-NAME-SPECIES.ANNONA.SQUAMOSA (inactive 2015-01-09). Retrieved 2008-04-17.
- ^ a b c d Morton, Julia (1987). "Annona squamosa". Fruits of warm climates. Department of Horticulture & Landscape Architecture, Purdue University. p. 69. Archived from the original on 5 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c d e 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. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-17. Stone, Benjamin C. 1970. The flora of Guam. Micronesica 6:1-659.
- ^ McGregor, S.E. Insect Pollination Of Cultivated Crop Plants USDA, 1976
- ^ "Annona squamosa". AgroForestryTree Database. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
- ^ a b Dholvitayakhun A, Trachoo N et al. (2013). "Potential applications for Annona squamosa leaf extract in the treatment and prevention of foodborne bacterial disease". Natural Product Communications 8 (3): 385–388. PMID 23678817. CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)
- ^ Moeschler HF, Pfluger W et al. (August 1987). "Insecticide US 4689232 A". Retrieved 2014-12-03. CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)
- ^ Chen Y, Xu SS et al. (2012). "Anti-tumor activity of Annona squamosa seeds extract containing annonaceous acetogenin compounds". Journal of Ethnopharmacology 142 (2): 462–466. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2012.05.019. PMID 22609808. CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)
- ^ Li XH, Hui YH et al. (1990). "Bullatacin, bullatacinone, and squamone, a new bioactive acetogenin, from the bark of Annona squamosa". Journal of Natural Products 53 (1): 81–86. doi:10.1021/np50067a010. PMID 2348205. CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)
- ^ Gajalakshmi S, Divya R et al. (2011). "Pharmacological activities of Annona squamosa: A review". International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review and Research 10 (2): 24–29. CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)
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Annona asiatica Linnaeus
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The Custard apple, Sugar apple or Sweetsop is indigenous to tropical America. In Pakistan, it is widely cultivated in Sind and also in Punjab. The fruit is the best tasting of all the Annona species. The pulp is said to be rich in Vitamin C. Seeds are strong irritant to eyes and may cause blindness. Leaves and unripe fruit are insecticidal. Root is a strong purgative.
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Dryish sandy substrates, dry hammocks; 0-50m.
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The fruit of Annona squamosa ( Annona sect. Atta C. Martius) has delicious whitish pulp, and it is popular in tropical markets.
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Flowering spring-early summer.
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"Notes: Western Ghats, Cultivated, Native of W. Indies"
Fl. Per.: April-August.
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United States
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Unknown/Undetermined
Confidence: Confident
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