148 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
roots are protected by a heavy mulch of stable manure. The 
new growth starts up just as soon as warm weather sets in, 
producing favorable crops of fruit for several years. 
The fruit is somewhat corrugated and varies according to 
the type between linear and broadly pear-shaped. The color 
also varies from white to a light green. The chayvte is es- 
teemed as a vegetable similar to the squash or the vegetable 
marrow. It may be stuffed and baked, creamed, or fried with 
butter as fritters. It also forms a palatable salad with 
mayonnaise dressing, and when made into sauce it is strik- 
ingly similar to apple sauce. In the tropics the large tuber- 
ous root is used as food in a similar manner to the well-known 
yams. 
The Garden specimen of the chayote, previous to its re- 
moval to the tropical fruit house, bore numerous fruits show- 
ing the usual factor of germination while attached to the 
parent vine. 
CHERIMOYA (ANNONA CHERIMOLA) 
The fruit obtained from the present-day selected and 
budded varieties of cherimoya is sometimes called one of the 
three finest fruits of the world, the other two being the pine- 
apple and the mangosteen. When thoroughly chilled there 
are few fruits to equal it as a dessert. 
The genus is native to the Andes of Peru and adjacent re- 
gion. At a very early date it was introduced into Central 
America and Mexico, where it became naturalized. It was 
probably brought into California in 1871 by the late Judge 
R. B. Ord, of Santa Barbara. Since this introduction numer- 
cus seedlings have been raised and planted in the vicinity, the 
atmospheric conditions and the soil of Hollywood, especially 
along the slopes of the valley west, being unusually suited to 
their cultivation. One of the largest groves is owned by C. P. 
Taft and consists of about 100 plants. 
In Madeira the cherimoya has supplanted the grape vine, 
particularly on the estates of the southern slopes of the island. 
Here the cultivation is decidedly systematic, two-year-old 
budded or grafted stock being used, and plants usually 
trained upon trellises or walls to enable the fruit to hang in 
the shade during ripening. 
The cherimoya grows to a height of fifteen to twenty feet. 
The flowers are remarkably uniform, but vary somewhat in 
size. The fruit varies considerably in shape and appearance, 
