122 



safford: annona diversifolia 



distinctly rounded at the apex, very different in shape from the 

 leaves of the other species mentioned, and the photograph of 

 fruits, fully ripe and bursting open, show them to be shaped "like 

 pine apple cheeses," as Mr. Letcher aptly describes them (fig. 3). 

 The seeds forwarded by Mr. Letcher were totally unlike those of 

 any known species of Annona. They resembled, however, some 

 seeds in the economic collection of the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture of an unidentified An- 

 nona growing in the republic of 

 El Salvador. 



Photographs of the Acapulco 

 fruit were accordingly sent by the 

 writer to the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment of Salvador, and a prompt 

 and courteous reply was received 

 from the Director General of 

 Agriculture of that republic, Don 

 Rafael Castillo, who identified 

 it with the species called in Sal- 

 vador "anona blanca." Sefior 

 Castillo also forwarded seeds and 

 leaves of the "anona blanca," 

 which identified it unmistakably 

 with the ilama of Colima( Annona diversifolia) and with the ilama 

 of Acapulco. The following is an amended description of the 

 species. 



Annona diversifolia Safford. ilama, or illamatzapotl Fig. 1. 

 Anona diversifolia Safford. Science, n. ser. ; 23: 471. 1911. 



Leaves petioled, blades varying from broadly elliptical, near 

 the base of the flowering branches, to obovate-oblong and oblan- 

 ceolate, higher up, rounded or obtuse at the apex, and rounded 

 or acute at the base, membranaceous, glabrous, feather-veined, 

 punctulate with minute dots; peduncles solitary 1 -flowered, long 

 and slender, recurved or pendent, issuing from one or two sub- 

 orbicular, amplexicaul, glabrous, leaf-like bracts near the base 

 of the flowering branches; flower buds obpyriform; petals linear- 



Fig. 3. Mature fruit of Ilama 

 (Annona diversifolia) one-third natu- 

 ral size. 



