CHAPTER V 

 THE ANNONACEOUS FRUITS 



THE annonas are tropical fruits composed of more or less 

 coherent fleshy carpels or parts. More than 50 species are 

 known, several of which are widely cultivated for their fruits. 

 The family comprises 40 to 50 genera. One of them, Asimina, is 

 native in temperate North America, and one species (Asimina 

 triloba, known also as papaw but very different from the papaya) 

 occurs as far north as New York and Michigan. 



THE CHERIMOYA (Plate VIII) 

 (Annona Cherimola, Mill.) 



" Deliciousness itself" is the phrase Mark Twain used to 

 characterize the cherimoya. Sir Clements Markham quotes 

 an even more flattering description : 



"The pineapple, the mangosteen, and the cherimoya," says 

 Dr. Seemann, " are considered the finest fruits in the world. I 

 have tasted them in those localities in which they are supposed 

 to attain their highest perfection, the pineapple in Guayaquil, 

 the mangosteen in the Indian Archipelago, and the cherimoya 

 on the slopes of the Andes, and if I were called upon to act 

 the part of a Paris I would without hesitation assign the apple 

 to the cherimoya. Its taste, indeed, surpasses that of every 

 other fruit, and Haenke was quite right when he called it the 

 masterpiece of Nature." 



The cherimoya is essentially a dessert fruit, and as such it 

 certainly has few equals. Although its native home is close 

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