Annona squamosa

Appearance

''Annona squamosa'' is a small, semi- deciduous, much branched shrub or small tree 3 metres to 8 metres tall
very similar to soursop ...hieroglyph snipped...
with a broad, open crown or irregularly spreading branches
and a short trunk short, not buttressed at base.
The fruit of ''A. squamosa'' has delicious whitish pulp, and is popular in tropical markets.

;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 .

⟶ Thin, simple, alternate leaves occur singly, 5 centimetres to 17 centimetres long and 2 centimetres to 6 centimetres wide; rounded at the base and pointed at the tip . Pale green on both surfaces and mostly hairless with slight hairs on the underside when young. The sides sometimes are slightly unequal and the leaf edges are without teeth, inconspicuously hairy when young.

⟶ Leaf stalks are 0.4 centimetres to 2.2 centimetres long, green, sparsely pubescent

;Flowers: Solitary or in short lateral clusters of 2-4 about 2.5 centimetres long, greenish-yellow flowers on a hairy, slender 2 centimetres long stalk. Three green outer petals, purplish at the base, oblong, 1.6 centimetres to 2.5 centimetres long, and 0.6 centimetres to 0.75 centimetres wide, three inner petals reduced to minute scales or absent. Very numerous stamens; crowded, white, less than 1.6 centimetres long; ovary light green. Styles white, crowded on the raised axis. Each pistil forms a separate tubercle , mostly 1.3 centimetres to 1.9 centimetres long and 0.6 centimetres to 1.3 centimetres wide which matures into the aggregate fruit.
⟶ Flowering occurs in spring-early summer and flowers are pollinated by nitidulid beetles.

;Fruits and reproduction: Aggregate and soft fruits form from the numerous and loosely united pistils of a flower which become enlarged and mature into fruits which are distinct from fruits of other species of genus .

⟶ The round or heart-shaped greenish yellow, ripened aggregate fruit is pendulous on a thickened stalk; 5 centimetres to 10 centimetres in diameter with many round protuberances and covered with a powdery bloom. Fruits are formed of loosely cohering or almost free carpels .

⟶ The pulp is white tinged yellow, edible and sweetly aromatic. Each carpel containing an oblong, shiny and smooth, dark brown to black, 1.3 centimetres to 1.6 centimetres long seed.

Distribution

''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.

;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

;Current
⟶ 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

Azores , Portugal

Uses

Heat-extracted oil from the seeds has been employed against agricultural pests. 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.

For uses of the fruit, see sugar-apple.