Annona squamosa is a small, well-branched tree or shrub from the family Annonaceae that bears edible fruits called sugar apples or sweetsops or custard apples. It tolerates a tropical lowland climate better than its relatives Annona reticulata and Annona cherimola (whose fruits often share the same name) helping make it the most widely cultivated of these species.

Annona squamosa is semi-(or late) deciduous, and tall, It is a native of tropical climate in the Americas, and Spanish traders aboard the Manila galleons docking in the Philippines brought it to Asia.

thumb|237px|[[Michał Boym's drawing of, probably, the sugar-apple, in his Flora Sinensis (1655)]]

The fruit is spherical-conical, in diameter and long, and weighing , with a thick rind composed of knobby segments. The colour is typically pale green through blue-green, with a deep pink blush in certain varieties, and typically has a bloom. It is unique among Annona fruits in being segmented; the segments tend to separate when ripe, exposing the innards.

The flesh is fragrant and sweet, creamy white through light yellow, and resembles and tastes like custard. The seeds are coated with the flesh, It is found adhering to seeds forming individual segments arranged in a single layer around a conical core. It is soft, slightly grainy, and slippery. The hard, shiny seeds may number 20–40 or more per fruit and have a brown to black coat, although varieties exist that are almost seedless. The seeds can be ground for use as an insecticide, although this has not been approved by the US EPA or EU authorities. Its pollen is shed as permanent tetrads.

Fruits and reproduction

Fruits ripen 3 to 4 months after flowering. Aggregate and soft fruits form from the numerous and loosely united pistils of a flower reticuline, and methylcorydaldine,

Bayer AG has patented the extraction process and molecular identity of the annonaceous acetogenin annonin, as well as its use as a biopesticide, although this use has not been approved by US or EU authorities. Other acetogenins have been isolated from the seeds, bark, and leaves.

Distribution and habitat

Annona squamosa is native to the tropical Americas, 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 India, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, and China as far north as Suzhou; it was introduced to southern Asia before 1590. It is naturalized as far north as Cuba, south Florida and as far south as Bahia, Brazil, and is an invasive species in some areas. In traditional Indian medicine, the leaves are also crushed for use as a poultice, and applied to wounds.

In Haiti, the fruit is known as cachiman and is used to simply make juice.

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File:Annona squamosa fruit from Myanmar.jpg|Annona squamosa fruit from Myanmar

File:Pineapple shijia.jpg|Sugar apple (right), with Taiwanese "pineapple shijia" (atemoya) (left)

File:Sugar Apple (Annona squamosa) interior.jpg|The sugar apple readily breaks open when ripe.

File:Sugar Apple deconstructed.jpg|A deconstruction of a sugar apple shows a lobe of fruit and pulpy segments with seeds.

File:Sugar Apple pulp.jpg|A sugar apple ready to eat

File:Sugar-apple (Annona squamosa) seeds.jpg|Sugar apple (Annona squamosa) seeds

File:Red Sugar Apple.jpg|Red sugar apples from Myanmar

File:Sugar-apples 5, Taitung County, Dec 06.JPG|Sugar apples in Taitung, Taiwan

File:Ata Sugar-apple Pinha Fruta do conde.JPG|A sugar apple in Goiânia, Brazil

File:Sugar Apple Tree.jpg|Sugar apple tree in Philippines

File:Aata by Mayeenul Islam.jpg|Two sugar apples in Bangladesh

File:Sarifa.jpg|A sugar apple in tree in Terai of Nepal

File:Squa9.jpg|A Sugar apple in a table

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References

  • Annona squamosa L.—Medicinal Plant Images Database (School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University)
  • Flora of North America: Annona squamosa
  • Fruits from Americas: Annona squamosa
  • Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk: Annona squamosa
  • Growing Sugar Apple Annona squamosa