124 safford: annona diversifolia 



are 5 to 6 cm. long and 3.8 to 4.8 cm. broad; the largest are 10 to 

 14 cm. long and 4 to 6 cm. broad, rounded or obtuse at the apex 

 and usually acute or cuneate at the base, with petioles 12 to 16 

 mm. long. The basal amplexicaul bracts are 25 to 35 mm. in 

 diameter; the floral peduncles, remarkably long for this genus, 

 are 4 to 5 cm. long. The small ovate or triangular calyx divisions 

 are ferrugineous-ciliate on the margins. The fresh petals (20 

 to 24 mm. long) are described by Dr. Palmer as "light reddish or 

 chocolate colored within and mauve or purple on the outer surface, 

 becoming snuff-colored with age." They differ from those of 

 Annona cherimola and its close allies in opening to the base when 

 mature. 



The fruit may be described as having the form of an enormous 

 artichoke with an axis of 13 to 15 cm. and a diameter of 12 to 13 



cm. On the same tree specimens may be 

 found with the salient points of the carpels 

 quite pronounced while in others they are 

 scarcely apparent. In comparing it with 

 the fruit of the chirimoya (Annona cheri- 

 mola), Mr. Letcher states that the flesh of 



Fig. 4; a, seed of Anno- the ilama is usually pink, sometimes deep 

 na diversifolia, b, seed of rose-colored, the hard nutlike seeds are 

 Annona cherimola, natu- yellow or yellowish brown (fig. 4 a), and the 



peel or rind is scurfy and inclined to be 

 covered with projecting points. The chirimoya, on the other 

 hand, has white flesh; dark brown seeds with a thin testa easily 

 cut with a knife and surrounded by a marginal ridge (fig. 4 b); 

 and an almost smooth skin usually with a wart-like protuberance 

 near the apex of each outlined areole. 



Seeds sent by Mr. Letcher from Acapulco and by Don Rafael 

 Castillo from Salvador are exactly alike; they resemble pine-nuts 

 rather than ordinary Annona seeds. They are 20 to 21 mm. 

 long, 12 to 11 mm. broad, and 10 mm. thick, so that they have a 

 broadly elliptical or oval cross-section. The basal hilum is more 

 or less depressed and is devoid of the thickened caruncle which 

 usually surrounds the hilum in other species of Annona and in the 

 allied genus Rollinia. 



