28 mLVA OF NORTH A3IERICA. 



ANOXACE^. 



fruit of A, muricata, is three or four inches across, covered with short incurved points.^ The o-reen or 

 yellow surface has a terebinthine odor and a disagreeable flavor ; it is easily removed from the white 

 subacid aromatic flesh, which is eaten with or without sugar, or is cooked as a vegetable when partly 

 grown. The fruit is considered an antiscorbutic and febrifuge, and a powder prepared from the dried 

 unripe fruit is used in the treatment of dysentery. Anona reticulata ' is now generally naturalized 

 and mdely cultivated in the tropics,^ but its fruit, the custard apple or bullock's heart, which is sub- 

 globose with a rough skin marked with pentagonal areoles, is less esteemed than the fruit of the other 

 cultivated species. The cherimoyer, the fruit of A. Gherimolia, a native probably of western tropical 

 America from Mexico to below the equator, and now cultivated and naturalized throughout the tropics 

 is the best fruit produced by any species of the genus. Many travelers have declared the flavor of the 

 cherimoia, recaUing the strawberry and banana, more dehcate and exquisite than that of any other fruit. 

 The pulp of the fruit of all these species is refreshing, aromatic, and agreeable j but, as is the case ynth 

 many tropical fruits, it is reaUy inferior to the best products of the temperate zone. The fruit of Anona 

 eaten with sugar before it is fully ripe is a useful tonic, and the fermented juice is manufactured irito a 

 sort of sweet wine or cider in the AYest Indies. 



The genus was first established by Plumier as Guanabanus j "* this name was discarded by Linn^us 

 for Anona,^ the name given by early authors ^ to the Soursop. Linnceus changed Anona to Annona 

 (the year's product) in the Uortus Glifforiianus in order to avoid the use of names of barbarous origin. 



1 LiiuiEeus, Spec. 537. — Deseourtilz, Fl. Med. Anlil. ii. t. 87. — Guanabano, was adopted by Oviedo to designate A. muricata. (Hist. 

 Tussac, Fl. Antil. ii. t. 24. —Van Nooten, Fleurs Jav. t. 39. Gen. Nat. Ind. lib. 8, cap. 17.) 



2 LinnjEus, 5pec. 537. — Deseourtilz, Fl. Med. Antil. ii. t. 82.— c From Fanow, used by Oviedo Q. c.) to designate A. squamosa, 

 Bot. Mag. t. 2912. — Van Nooten, Fleurs Jav. t. 20. Kb. 8, cap, 18, t. 3, f. 7. 



s Rookei L FL Brit. Ind. i. 78. 6 Commeljn, Hort. l 133, t. 69. — Hermann, Cat. Hort. Lugd. 



* Nov. Plant. Am. Gen. 42, 1. 10. GuanabauiiSj from the Indian Bat. G45. — Plukeuet, Aim. Bot. 31, 1. 134, f. 2. 



