ANNONACEAE. 141 



Family 3. ANNONACEAE DC. 



Custard-apple rAniLT. 



Trees or shrubs, generally aromatic, with alternate entire leaves. 

 Stipules none. Sepals 3 (rarely 2), valvate or rarely imbricate. Petals 

 about 6, arranged in 2 series. Stamens oo ; anthers adnate, extrorse. 

 Carpels co, separate or coherent, mainly fleshy in fruit. Seeds large, 

 anatropous; embryo minute; endosperm copious, 'wrinkled. About 46 

 g-enera and 550 species, mostly in the tropics, a few in the temperate 

 zones. 



1. ANNONA L. Sp. PI. 536. 1753. 



Mostly trees, with coriaceous or ehartaceous leaves, and perfect, usually 

 solitary and axillary, nodding, peduneled flowers. Sepals 3, valvate, deciduous. 

 Petals usually 6, valvate, the 3 outer larger than the 3 inner. Eeceptacle 

 hemispheric. Anther-sacs contiguous. Pistils borne at the top of the recep- 

 tacle; ovaries 1-ovuled; stigma sessile or nearly so. Fruit compound, aggre- 

 gate, many-seeded; seeds arillate. [Name said to he derived from Malayan.] 

 I''ifty species or more, of tropical and subtropical distribution. Type species: 

 Annona muricata L. 



Ontpr nptals broad, ovate, the Inner as long, or somewhat shorter ; fruit 



smooth. 1. A. glabra. 

 Outer petals linear-oblong, the inner minute. 



Fruit tubercled. 2. A. squamosa. 



Fruit reticulated or areolate. 3. A. reticulata. 



1. Annona glabra L. Sp. PI. 537. 1753. 



Annona palustris L. Sp. PI. ed. 2, 757. 1762. 

 Anona Icmrifolia Dunal, Monogr. Anon. 65. 1817. 



A tree, up to 12 m. high, with a truni; 4 or 5 dm. in diameter, usually 

 smaller, sometimes shrubby, the fissured bark reddish brown, the twigs glabrous. 

 Leaves ovate to oblong, subcoriaceous, S-IS cm. long, acute or short-acuminate 

 at the apex, usually rounded at the base, the petioles 1-4 cm. long; flowers 

 solitary in the axils, nodding, short-peduncled, yellowish green, 2-3.5 cm. long; 

 sepals broader than long, slightly united; petals thick, concave, the outer a 

 little larger than the inner; fruit ovoid, 6-13 cm. long, smooth, rounded at 

 apex, impressed at base, yellowish brown ; seeds 1-2 cm. long. 



Ponds irnd water-holes. Great Bahama. Andres, New Providence, fat Island, 

 Watling's Island, Crooked Island : — Florida ; West Indies ; northern South America. 

 Catesby, 2 : pi. 61,, 67. Pond-apple. 



2. Annona squamosa L. Sp. PI. 537. 1753. 



A tree, up to about 12 m. high, the young twigs densely, pubescent. 

 Leaves elliptic, lanceolate to oblong, chartaceous, 6-12 cm. long, pubescent, at 

 least when young, sometimes glabrous when old, acute at the apex, narrowed 

 at the base, the petioles 5-12 mm. long; peduncles about as long as the 

 petioles; flowers greenish, about 2 cm. long; sepals triangular, acute, pubescent, 

 1.5 mm. long; outer petals linear-oblong, puberulent; fruit globose, 5-9 cm. 

 in diameter, strongly tubercled, greenish, the tubercles rounded, the pulp white; 

 seeds oblong, brown, shining. 



Scrub-lands. New Providence, probably introduced : — Cuba to Virgin Gorda 

 and St. Vincent ; Jamaica ; widely cultivated in tropical regions. Sugar- apple. 



