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safford: classification of rollinia 



BOTANY. — Proposed classification of the genus Rollinia, with 

 descriptions of several new species. W. E. Safford, Bureau 

 of Plant Industry. 



Among the finest fruits of tropical America are certain custard 

 apples of the genus Rollinia. This genus, belonging to the 

 Annonaceae, is characterized by fruits closely resembling the 

 chirimoya (Annona cherimola Miller), the sugar-apple or pomme- 

 cannelle (A. squamosa L.), and the bullock's heart (A. reticulata 

 L.), but its flowers are very distinct in form from those of the 

 genus Annona. 



Much confusion exists in the botanical classification of the 

 principal commercial species of this genus. This is owing chiefly 



to the fact that, in 

 original descrip- 

 tions, either the 

 fruit and not the 

 flower was de- 

 scribed, or vice 

 versa, and that bo- 

 tanical names have 

 been applied to 

 fruits in the mar- 

 kets unaccompanied 

 by leaves or flowers, 

 which are necessary 

 to determine the 

 species. As a re- 

 sult, Martius, in his great work, Flora Brasiliensis, applies the 

 name Annona obtusiflora to a Rollinia sold in the markets of 

 Brazil under the name fructa do Conde, which he imagined to 

 have been introduced into Brazil from the Antilles; and a second 

 species of Rollinia, mentioned by Marcgrave under the name 

 biribd, he places in the genus Duguetia under the name D. 

 Marcgraviana. The only large-fruited Brazilian Rollinia which 

 he mentions under its true generic name he refers to Alphonse 

 De Candolle's R. orthopetala, sl species of British Guiana, the 

 fruit of which was not seen by De Candolle. 



Fig. 1. Types of Rollinia flowers: a, R. Sieberi; b, 

 R. deliciosa; c, R. laurifolia; d. R. rugulosa; e, R. lan- 

 ceolata; f, R. emarginata. 



