safford: annona diversifolia 123 



oblong, swollen and concave at the base; fruit conoid or broadly 

 ovoid, covered with dense felt-like pubescence, the individual 

 carpels scale-like when immature, and projecting in thick blunt 

 points directed toward the apex when mature, but sometimes 

 suppressed so that the fruit is ovoid or subglobose in shape ; seeds 

 golden-brown or buff colored, obovoid to oblong, with a hard 

 smooth testa devoid of a marginal groove or wing, enveloped in 

 a thin membranous covering when fresh, and surrounded by a 

 richly flavored, cream-colored or rose-tinted, edible pulp. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 398834, collected 

 near the city of Colima, western Mexico, July 1897, by Dr. 

 Edward Palmer (No. 60). 



Distribution: Colima and Acapulco, western Mexico, to El 

 Salvador; cultivated for its edible fruit. Local names: llama, 

 Hilama, Illamatzapotl (Mexico); Anona blanca (Salvador). 



Annona diversifolia is a small tree with deep green foliage, and 

 light-colored brownish-gray bark, longitudinally furrowed and set 

 with numerous lenticels. The tender young leaves at first are 

 reddish or copper-colored, somewhat like those of a mango in 

 color, but at length turn green and have a parchment-like texture. 

 They differ essentially from the leaves of the closely allied Annona 

 macroprophyllata Donn. Smith in size and form and in the length 

 of the petiole. Diversity in shape and size of the leaves is com- 

 mon to many species of Annonaceae, usually the smaller and 

 relatively broader leaves being found near the base of the flower- 

 ing branches, and larger and relatively narrower leaves following 

 in succession; but in the present species this diversity is most 

 pronounced. The possession of persistent leaf-like clasping 

 bracts at the base of the petioles separates this species together 

 with A. macroprophyllata from the rest of the Annonas thus far 

 known, and places them in a section apart, which I have called 

 llama. 8 These bracts are glabrous in the present species, while 

 in ,4. macroprophyllata the bracts are ciliate on the margin. The 

 smaller and relatively broader leaves at the base of the branches 



8 See Safford, W. E. : "The Genus Annona: the derivation of its name and its 

 taxonomic subdivisions.''' Journ. Washington Acad: Sci., 1: 118-120. Septem- 

 ber, 1911. 



