Custard apple

Scientific Name :
Annona squamosa L.
Synonym(s) :
Annona asiatica L.
Local/Common name(s) :
Aatha, Custard apple
Family :
Annonaceae
Habit :
Tree
Flowering/Fruiting Time :
June-October
Habitat :
Cultivated and almost naturalised
Endemic :
No
Status (IUCN) :
Least concern (LC)
Distribution :
Native of Central America and West Indies
Nativity :
Exotic
Uses :
Food, Medicine
Description (Morphology) :

Trees, to 6 m high, brownish or brownish-black; branchlets seriaceous, glabrous when mature. Leaves simple, alternate, distichous, estipulate; petiole 6-20 mm long, stout, glabrous, grooved above; lamina ovate, ovate-lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, base acute, obtuse, cuneate, or round, apex acute or obtuse, margin entire, glabrous, glaucous beneath, coriaceous; lateral nerves 8-12 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate. Flowers bisexual, axillary, solitary or a few together, leaf-opposed; pedicels 1-3 cm long, glabrous; sepals 3, broadly ovate, shortly acuminate, pubescent outside; petals 6 [3+3], outer 3 petals, 1.5-3 x. 3-0.5 cm, linear-oblong, keeled inside, thick, greenish-white or yellow, reddish at base inside, pubescent outside, inner three petals usually missing or rudimentary, ovate, ca. 1 mm long; stamens many, ca. 1 mm long, anther thecae narrow, with ovoid top of connectives; carpels many, superior, ca. 1 mm long, subconnate, ovoid, pubescent, 1-ovuled, style oblong, stigma entire. Fruit an aggregate of berry, 8-10 cm across, ovoid, greenish, glabrous, tuberculate with rounded tips, glaucous, pulp white; seeds many, black, shiny.

Copyright © 2024 MACFAST. All rights reserved. Designed & Developed by Techius Solution