All Floras      Advanced Search
FNA Vol. 3 Login | eFloras Home | Help
FNA | Family List | FNA Vol. 3 | Annonaceae


Custard-apple, soursop, alligator-apple [native Hispaniolan anon or hanon, given to A . muricata ]

Trees or shrubs , taprooted; trunks buttressed or not buttressed at base. Bark thin, mostly broadly and shallowly fissured, scaly, fissures anastomosing. Shoots slender, stiff, terete; lenticels raised; buds naked. Leaves persistent or deciduous to late deciduous. Leaf blade leathery or membranous, glabrous to pubescent. Inflorescences axillary or supra-axillary, occasionally from axillary buds on main stem or older stems, solitary flowers or fascicles; peduncle bracteolate. Flowers: receptacle convex to ±globose or elongate, elevated; sepals deciduous, 3(-4), smaller than outer petals, valvate in bud; petals 6(-8) in 2 whorls, usually fleshy, those of outer whorl larger, valvate in bud, those of inner whorl more ascending, distinctly smaller or reduced, rarely absent, valvate or imbricate in bud; nectaries present as darker-pigmented, usually corrugate zones adaxially near petal bases; stamens very numerous, packed into ball, club-shaped, curved; connective dilated, hooded or pointed beyond anther sac; pistils numerous, sessile, partially connate to various degrees with at least stigmas distinct; ovules 1(-2) per pistil; style and stigma club-shaped or narrowly conic. Fruits fleshy syncarps, 1 per flower, usually ovoid to nearly globose, surface variable depending on orientation, structure, and relative connation of pistil apices. Seed usually 1 per pistil, ovoid to ellipsoid, beanlike, coat tough, margins various, narrow. x =7.

Species 110 (2 in the flora): mostly neotropic; North America; 10 in Africa.


Safford, W. E. 1914. Classification of the genus Annona, with descriptions of new and imperfectly known species. Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 18: i-ix, 1-68. Sargent, C. S. 1922. Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico), ed. 2. Boston and New York. Pp. 354-356. [Reprints in 2 vols., 1961, 1965. New York.] Wood, C. E. 1958. The genera of the woody Ranales in the southeastern United States. J.Arnold Arbor.39: 296-346.

1 Sepals reniform-cordate; petals ovate, adaxially concave, those of inner whorl at least 2/3 length of outer whorl; syncarp smooth.   1 Annona glabra
+ Sepals deltate; outer petals oblong or lance-oblong, adaxially keeled, abaxially furrowed, those of inner whorl minute; syncarp muricate.   2 Annona squamosa

Lower Taxa


Related Objects  

Flora of China  
  • Annona (PDF)
  • PDF
