162 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



sea. In the Canaries and Cape Verdes it is extremely rare. It 

 is called in Madeira by the Portuguese " Anona," which in the 

 Cape Verdes is the name of A. reticulata L. The fruit softens, 

 but scarcely changes colour when ripe, only becoming a little 

 paler green or brownish. In Madeira it does not ripen com- 

 pletely on the tree, but is gathered when apparently full-grown 

 or beginning to soften, and kept several days till it becomes uni- 

 formly soft and ripe. It has a sweet creamy vinous taste, melting, 

 rich, and juicy, and, when fine and not over ripe, is a delicious 

 fruit. There are, however, almost as many sorts or varieties in 

 quality as trees differing in goodness. The best are about the 

 size of the fist, with few or scarcely any seeds. 



It seems questionable whether this is more than a more pubes- 

 cent, larger, and broader-leaved garden form or variety of A. squa- 

 mosa L., due to cultivation or locality. In the Madeiran cultivated 

 plant the leaves vary much, according to the age and vigour 

 of the tree, in shape, size, and pubescence ; whilst the smaller the 

 fruit is, the drier and fuller it becomes of seeds, and the more 

 regularly and extensively squamoso-tuberculate. Indeed, at an 

 elevation of 500 or 600 feet and upwards above the sea, it may be 

 said to pass completely into A. squamosa L. In the Cape Yerdes 

 it is not generally known or acknowledged as distinct from the 

 very abundantly naturalized A. squamosa L. In fact I met with 

 the real A. Cherimolia Mill, twice only in the Cape Yerdes — viz. 

 in the Maniche garden in S. Mcolao and in another garden at 

 Paul in St. Antao. 



The statement, therefore, in the ' Mora Wigritiana,' p. 205, that 

 A. Cherimolia Mill, is "a very abundant plant and quite natu- 

 ralized in the Cape de Verde Islands," and again, in Dr. J. A. 

 Schmidt's ' Mora of the Cape Yerde Islands,' p. 260, that it is 

 " widely spread over the Island of S. Antonio " (S. Antao) " though 

 only as a bush, seldom flowering and rarely attaining 6-8 feet in 

 height," belong properly only to A. squamosa L. 



2. A. squamosa L. Very common in the Cape Verdes, and 

 perfectly naturalized, especially in St. Iago, forming thickets or 

 jungles in the valleys of the interior, and called " Pinha but 

 not distinctly recognized in either the Canaries or Madeira. The 

 fruit is similar to that of A. Cherimolia L., but prominently scaly 

 or tubercular all over, and very inferior in quality. 



3. A. reticulata L. Only less common than A. squamosa L. 

 in the Cape Verdes, and called "Anona." In Madeira it is only 

 represented by a single tree or two, and it does not occur at all 



