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Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany 



he found that a number of trees had been raised and were in bearing, but the fruit 

 was still scarce and sold in the markets from eiglit to twelve reales each. It was 

 more than one Imndred years later that the first Cherimoya seeds found their 

 way to Europe, and having come from Peru it was naturally supposed that the 

 tree was a native of that country. Later, when Euroi)ean botanists found the tree 

 in an apparently wild state in the mountains of Peru and Ecuador, this belief was 

 more firmly established, but it is plainly apparent that the tree might have become 

 naturalized in the two hundred years that had elapsed since its introduction, even 

 to such an extent as to lead to the belief that it was native. Prof. Alcocer points 

 out that the work, "Historia del Nuevo Mundo," was unknown to DeCandoUe, 

 and he also presents much other evidence in favor of a Central American origin, 

 with the result that little room is left for doubt. 



Figure 122. Fruits of Cherimoya on a young tree at Holl}rwood, California. 



Common Names 



In Mexico the common name of this fruit is spelled "Chirimoya." Evidently 

 a different spelling is used in Peru, giving rise to the specific name Cherimolia 

 and the English adaptations "Cherimoya" and "Cherimoyer," the latter most 

 commonly used in the British colonies. Though the fruit came to California from 

 Mexico, the spelling "Cherimoya" has been generally adopted by horticulturists 

 in this state and will, in all probability, eventually supersede all others. 



Some authorities have termed all members of the genus Anona 

 "Custard Apple" individually and collectively, it is extremely undesirable that 

 the Cherimoya be known under this name, which properly belongs to the West 

 Indian Anona reticulata, a fruit similar to the Cherimoya in many characteristics, 



