Annona cherimola

See also: Cherimoya

Annona cherimola
Chirimuya – Annona cherimola
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Magnoliids
Order:	Magnoliales
Family:	Annonaceae
Genus:	Annona
Species:	A. cherimola
Binomial name
Annona cherimola Mill.
File:Range of Annona cherimola-Current.svg
Current range of uncultivated A. cherimola
Synonyms
Annona pubescens Salisb. Annona tripetala Aiton

Annona cherimola, originally called Chirimuya by the Inca people who lived where it was growing in the Andes of South America, is an edible fruit-bearing species of the genus Annona from the family Annonaceae. It is now widely cultivated mostly for its sweet fruits that share the name Custard-apple with others in its family. Other English common names include cherimoya, chirimoyo, momona, kelemoio.

Description

Annona cherimola is a fairly dense, fast-growing, woody, briefly deciduous but mostly evergreen low branched, spreading tree or shrub 5 metres (16 ft) to 9 metres (30 ft) tall.

Stems and leaves

Mature branches are sappy and woody; young branches and twigs have a matting of short, fine, rust colored hairs.

Leathery leaves 5 centimetres (2.0 in) to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) long 3 centimetres (1.2 in) to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) wide mostly elliptic, pointed at the ends and rounded near the leaf stalk. When young, covered with soft, fine, tangled, rust colored hairs. When mature, hairs only along the veins on the undersurface. Tops hairless and a dull medium green with paler veins, backs velvety, dull grey-green with raised pale green veins. New leaves are whitish below.

Leaves are single and alternate, 2-ranked attached to the branches with stout 6 millimetres (0.24 in) to 10 millimetres (0.39 in) long and densely hairy leaf stalks.

Flowers

Very pale green, fleshy flowers 3 centimetres (1.2 in) long, with very strong fruity odor, each with three outer, greenish, fleshy, oblong, downy petals and 3 smaller, pinkish inner petals with yellow or brown finely matted hairs outside, whitish with purple spot and many stamens on the inside. They appear on the branches opposite to the leaves, solitary or in pairs or groups of three, on flower stalks that are covered densely with fine rust colored hairs, 8 millimetres (0.31 in) to 12 millimetres (0.47 in) long. Buds 15 millimetres (0.59 in) to 18 millimetres (0.71 in) long, 5 millimetres (0.20 in) to 8 millimetres (0.31 in) wide at the base.

Fruits and reproduction

Large green conical or heart-shaped compound fruit, 10 centimetres (3.9 in) to 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, and diameters of 5 centimetres (2.0 in) to 5 centimetres (2.0 in), with skin that gives the appearance of having overlapping scales or knobby warts. Ripening to brown with a fissured surface from winter into spring; weighing on the average 150 grams (5.3 oz) to 500 grams (18 oz) but extra large specimens may weigh 2.7 kilograms (6.0 lb) or more. The ripened flesh is creamy white and contains numerous hard, inedible, brown or black, beanlike, glossy seeds, 1 centimetre (0.39 in) to 2 centimetres (0.79 in) long and about half as wide.

Hand pollinated flowers give more fruits.

Annona cherimola, preferring the cool Andean altitudes, hybridizes with the other Annona species and a hybrid with A. reticulata called atemoya has received some attention in West Africa. Along with other Annona species, Annona cherimola has been shown to possess antioxidant activity in its flesh and skin components

Distribution

Widely cultivated now, Annona cherimola is believed to originate from the Andes at altitudes of 700 metres (2,300 ft) to 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) although an alternate hypothesis postulates Central America as the origin of Annona cherimola because many of its wild relatives occur in this area. From there it was taken by Europeans to various parts of the tropics. Unlike other Annona species A. cherimola has not successfully naturalized in West Africa, and in Australasia Annona glabra is often misidentified as this species.

Native

Neotropic:

Western South America: Ecuador, Peru

Southern South America: Chile

Current (naturalized and native)

Neotropic:

Caribbean: Florida, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico

Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama

Northern South America: Guyana, Venezuela

Western South America: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru

Southern South America: Chile, Brazil

Palearctic: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, France, Italy, Spain(Almuñécar, Costa Tropical), Madeira

Afrotropic: Eritrea, Somalia, Tanzania,

Indomalaya: India, Singapore, Thailand

Cultivars

Chirimoya of the Granada-Málaga Tropical Coast

The Chirimoya of the Granada-Málaga Tropical Coast is a fruit of the cultivar ‘Fino de Jete" grown in the Granada-Málaga tropical southern coast of Spain with the EU's appellation protected designation of origin status.

This variety is prepared and packed in the geographical area because "it is a very delicate perishable fruit and its skin is very susceptible to browning caused by mechanical damage, such as rubbing, knocks, etc. The fruit must be handled with extreme care, from picking by hand in the field to packing in the warehouse, which must be carried out within 24 hours. Repacking or further handling is strictly forbidden."