THE CULTIVATED ANONAS. 117 
Henry Perrine(8i), and is now practically naturalized on several 
of the Florida Keys. It is said to have fruited well above the 
twentieth parallel in Norwalk, Putnam County, before the freeze 
of 1886(82). So far it has failed to thrive in California. 
Anona reticulata L. (§ Attae) PI. IX, fig-, b. 
A small tree, 4.5 to 7.5 meters tall; young growth finely pubes- 
cent, the full grown leaves becoming glabrous; leaves 12 to 30 
cm in length or more, lanceolate, papery, malodorous when 
bruised, base rounded or acute, apex acuminate, veins prominent, 
petioles 11 to 25 mm long. Flowers 2 to several; pedicel 18 to 
25 mm long; the three exterior petals, 16 to 33 mm in length, 
linear-oblong, blunt, greenish, whitish inside, keeled, concave, 
with a maroon-colored blotch in the cavity at the base; interior 
petals inconspicuous. The fruit attains a size of 7.5 to 15 cm 
in diameter, heart-shaped, the surface fairly smooth, greenish 
or yellowish with reddish reticulations, and covered with a whit- 
ish bloom; flesh yellowish-white, rich, melting, sweet, with a 
trace of acidity; seeds imbedded in the pulp, slightly smaller 
than those of the sugarapple, dark -brown and smooth. 
In the West Indies the custardapple is commonly less esteemed 
than the other cultivated Anonas, although it is a close second 
to the sugarapple in wide distribution. It is a native of the 
American tropics. Its early introduction into the tropics of the 
Old World is shown by the reference to this fruit by Rum- 
phius(69) and Rheede(67), and also a mention of it, in the last 
third of the 17th century, by Mercado and by Kamel as occurring 
in the Philippines. The former states definitely that it was 
brought to the Archipelago from Nueva Espana. It is now 
naturalized in British India and in tropical Africa(i4) and has 
long been cultivated in the Philippines, Blanco (5), 
As far as the author knows the name custardapple appeared 
first in 1657; but, as the writer of the work referred to failed 
to describe the plant, the species he had in mind can only be 
conjectured (48, 42). Thirty-four years later it is referred to as 
the vulgar name for A7iona indica, a prelinnean synonym of 
Anona reticulatai^^) , In Plukenet's drawing the specific char- 
acteristics of the custardapple are readily recognizable although 
the author confounded the species with the sugarapple, the Abate, 
the Panucho and Ate Pannicensis of Hernandes, and the Hanon 
of Oviedo. The custardapple was mentioned by Ray in 1704(65), 
Sloane described it from Jamaica as Aiiona maxima and accom- 
panied the description by a drawing of the leaves and fruit (78). 
It was later figured by Jacquin(38), for his drawing in "Obser- 
