Review of Investigations on the Annona Species
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NOONAN: ANNONA INVESTIGATIONS 205 north-west exposure. The leaders tend to with sulphur powder, NKP, minor elements crawl over the citrus in a south-westerly direc with increased magnesium applications and tion which was also the general orientation of heavy mulching is indicated. the main body of foliage of the mature vines Ten. Scattered flowering throughout the on the Montgomery estate. year was observed on cuttings. Conclusions Eleven. In general, the results of these ori- entative investigations are disappointing from Although further investigations must be a time element viewpoint. For commercial made, the results to date do not indicate that utilization self-compatible naturally-fruiting Strophanthus sarmentosus in South Florida high-yielding strains will have to be bred, will be developed into an economically work which requires a long term breeding selection able crop plant in the near future. The response to hand pollination was suc program. LITERATURE CITED cessful from a breeding standpoint but not 1. Azoff, M. B. and Irvine, J. E. 1952. Paper pre from a commercial standpoint. Breeding and sented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Florida Academy of Science, Gainesville, Fla., Dec. 13. selection of self-fertile, high-yielding plants is 2. Callon, R. K., Meickle, R. D., and Taylor, W. I. the only rational solution to the problem; 1951. The Source of Sarmentogenin, Chemistry and Industry, No. 17, April 28, pp. 336-7. then clone plantings will be the first commer 3. Creech, J. L., and Dowdle, R. F. 1952. Propa gation of Strophanthus, Economic Botany, Vol. 6, No. cial step. Such a program would require large 1, Jan.-Mar., pp. 48-52. areas to grow the numerous seedling genera 4. Dijkman, M. J. 1950. A commercial method for the propagation of Strophanthus sarmentosus A. D.C., tions and a long term breeding set-up. Am. Jour. Bot., Vol. 27, No. 8, Oct., pp. 623-8. 5. Douglas, J. 1953. (Curator Kebun Raya, Indo Summary nesia.) Letter of Jan. 17, to J. Monachino, N. Y. Bot. Gard. One. In accord with the results obtained 6. Engler, A. and Prantl, K. 1891. Die Naturlichen with S. gratus in Indonesia, S. sarmentosus Pflanzen Familien, Leipzig, Verlag von Wilhelm Engle- man. shows varying degrees of self compatibility, 7. Euw, J. V., Reber, R, and Reichstein, T. 1951. ranging from incompatibility to relative com Sur la provenance de la sarmentocymarine: Strophan thus spec. var. sarmentogenifera No. MPD 50 Hel patibility when individuals are mutually com vetica Chimica Acta, Vol. XXXIV, Fasciculus Seclindus, No. 46, pp. 413-27. pared. 8. Jordahn, A. 1953. Personal communication. Two. Intraspecific cross-pollination is pos 9. Loomis, H. F. 1949. Strophanthus sarmento sus, a possible new drug plant for South Florida, Proc. sible. Florida State Hort. Soc, Tampa, Florida, Nov., pp. Three. Hand pollinations have increased 10 Mohr, J. C. J. 1933. De bodem der tropen in the fruiting response, but not to an extent that het algemeen en die van Nederlandsch Indie in het is commercially feasible. byzonder. Deel 1, pp. 1-342 11. Monachino, J. 1952. (N. Y. Bot. Gard.) Let Four. The possibility of finding self-polli ter of Jan. 28, to M. J. Dijkman. 12. Reichstein, T. 1952. (Director Organisch- nating individuals exists as Table 1 indicates. Chemische Anstalt der Univ. Basel, Switzerland.) Five. On mature vines only one blooming Letter of Jan. 31, to M. J. Dijkman. 13. Reichstein, T. 1952. Heterosides cardio-actifs period was observed. et hormones cortico surrenales, Produits Pharma- ceutiques, Vol. 7, No. 1, Jan., pp. 13-17; No. 2 Fev., Six. Fruit on mature vines developed only pp. 67-72. on strong leader shoots. 14. Reichstein, T. 1952. Letter of June 19 to M. J. Dijkman. Seven. In South Florida the fruit requires 15. Venning, F. D. 1953. Flowering Tropical Vines one year to ripen. (In preparation). 16. Visser Smits, D. de. 1951. Strophanthus gratus Eight. Two-year-old cuttings of a self com (Wall & Hook) Franch, Indonesian Jour, for Nat. Sci. patible plant could be brought to fruit by (Madjalah Ilmu Alam), Vol. 107, No. 6, Nov.-Dec, pp. 140-61. hand pollination. 17. Wit, F. 1941. De biologie van de vruchtvorm- ing bij Strophanthus gratus, Landbouw (Buitenzorg, Nine. Possible correlation with fertilizing Java), Vol. XVII, No. 2, pp. 98-105. REVIEW OF INVESTIGATIONS ON THE ANNONA SPECIES John C. Noon an The edible annonas, indigenous to the West Suh-Tropical Experiment Station ern Hemisphere, are probably as widely dis Homestead tributed in the tropical parts of the world as any other New World fruit. Frost and ex Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Journal Series, No. 190. tended cool weather are recognized as the 206 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1953 main climatic factors limiting the distribution botanical nomenclature, although the family, of the annonas. In Florida, annonas have Annonaceae and the genus Annona are some been grown on the coastal areas south of times spelled Anonaceae and Anona. The Stuart and Bradenton. The pond apple is a family contains more than forty genera, of native in the swamps, both brackish and fresh which only two beside Annona produce edible water, of south Florida. A related plant, fruit. The biriba, Rollinia deliciosa Saff., is known as the papaw has been reported to be highly regarded in northern Brazil, and may growing as far north as New York (13). be of value in sections of India which are free from frost. The papaw or pawpaw, Asimina In the United States, cultivated annonas are triloba Dunn., is a wild fruit of temperate classed as novelty fruits and some doubt that United States with some possibilities for im Americans in general will enjoy them. The provement (7). odor of the fruit is rather pleasant in contrast to the odor of many other tropical fruits of minor importance. The fruit is made up of The genus Annona contains more than fifty many carpels, joined together into one fleshy, species, of which five produce edible fruits of roundish, edible fruit, with a muricate, scaled, some importance. A number of others may or nearly smooth and netted skin. Each carpel have value in breeding or as root stocks. Most normally contains a rather large, bean-shaped of the members of the genus, including all of seed. (23). the fruiting species, are indigenous to America (7). Those producing edible fruits in Flor ida are: Annona cherimola Mill., cherimoya; History Annona diversifolia Saff., ilama; Annona muri There is little doubt that annonas had an cata L., soursop; Annona reticulata L., custard important role in the life of the peoples living apple; Annona squamosa L., sugar apple and in the sub-tropical regions of the Americas. an Annona hybrid, Atemoya (8). The wild Terra-cotta vases modeled after cherimoya pond apple, A. glabra L., bears an inferior fruit fruits have been dug from prehistoric graves with a resinous flavor. in Peru (18). Cherimoya trees have made poor growth in Annonas are reported in historical accounts Florida and have borne few fruit, most of of the discovery of the Americas; Popenoe which is poorly shaped and of indifferent qual writes: ity. The fruit is variable in size and appear "The historian Gonzolo Hernandes de ance, irregularly heart-shaped, greenish or Oviedo in his 'Natural History of the Indies/ yellowish with areoles more or less distinct. written in 1526, describes the soursop (An The flesh is whitish, sweet, subacid, rich and nona muricata L.) at some length, and he melting. It is a tall shrub or small tree, with mentions having seen it growing abundantly ovate-oblong leaves. The cherimoya is culti in the West Indies as well as on the main vated with limited success in California where land of South America." a number of varieties have been propagated. It is thought the annonas were then intro Many of these are under trial in Florida, but duced to Egypt, India and other tropical thus far none has shown much promise of be countries by these early explorers (10). Wes ing adapted to Florida conditions (8, 22). ter (22) states that Annonas were first intro duced into the United States in 1833 by Dr. The ilama (Figure 1) is now represented in H. Perrine. Reasoner (13) in his "Condition southern Florida by a number of fruiting trees, of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits in the and many young plants have been distributed U. S." written in 1887, described four of the in recent years (8). The tree resembles the Annona species which were then found in cherimoya in size and habit; the fruit is also southern Florida. Since that time numerous similar. The skin is whitish-green often with a pinkish tinge; the flesh is white or pinkish introductions have been made from the Ba (11). It is sometimes called "the cherimoya hamas, Cuba and other sources. of the lowlands." Its hardiness is comparable to that of the sugar apple. The ilama has Description proved a shy bearer thus far under Florida Fortunately, there is very little confusion in conditions (8). NOONAN: ANNONA INVESTIGATIONS 207 Figure 3. Annona reticulata L., Custard Apple. Figure 1. Annona diversifolia Saff., llama leaves. The fruit is cordiform, fairly smooth, tan or yellowish in color with reddish reticula tions. The flesh is melting, slightly granular, creamy white, rich, sweet with a slight trace of acidity (22). Generally the quality is rather poor but chilling improves the sweet or rather insipid flavor. Some confusion has arisen because in Cuba and Australia and in some countries of Central America this fruit is known as "cherimoya" (8). Figure 2. Annona muricata L., Soursop. The soursop (Figure 2) has succeeded fairly well as a dooryard tree on the Lower East Coast but most specimens are shy though continuous bearers (8).