Annona muricata L. ANNONACEAE
Synonym: Annona bonplandiana
Common names: Soursop, guayabano
Dhivehi name: Anoanaa
Status: Common in northern islands and found occasionally in southern groups. Grown in home gardens as a fruit tree.
Description: A small, low-branching (at the base of the tree), evergreen tree about 5 to 9 m tall. Trunk is straight. Bark is grey or greyish-brown, rough and fissured. Twigs bear large number of minute lenticels. Leaves are leathery, simple and arranged alternately; oblong, elliptic or narrow obovate in shape and pointed at both ends.Leaves are shiny, dark green on the upper surface, light green beneath; they produce a strong pungent smell when crushed. Flowers are large and single; emerge anywhere on the trunk, branches and twigs. Flowers are short stalked, plumb, triangular to conical in shape; have three outer petals that are fleshy, green or yellow-green and three inner petals that are pale yellow in colour. Fruit is covered with a reticulate,tender, inedible bitter skin with many stubby, curved, soft spines, whose tips break off easily when the fruit is fully ripe. Skin of the immature fruit is dark green in colour,becoming slightly yellowish-green in mature fruit. Flesh is whitish, fibrous and very juicy, smells like pineapple and subacid to acid in taste. Each fruit contains a few dozen to 200 or more seeds, which are shiny, hard, oblong and dark brown or black in colour.
Uses: Mature fruit, which is fragrant and delicious, is eaten fresh or used to make juices and sherbets. Fruit and fruit juice is taken to increase mother’s milk after childbirth. Along with guava and passion fruit, soursop is considered promising for large scale marketing in the form of preserved pulp, jelly and syrup. Barks, leaves and roots are used in traditional medicine.
Ecology, propagation and management: A. muricata grows well in loose, fairly rich,and deep and acidic soil and can tolerate dry soil conditions and a coastal environment.It is commonly raised from seeds. Seeds may be sown directly in the field, nursery bed or containers and should be kept moist and shaded. Germination takes place with 15 to 30 days and seedlings can be planted out after six to eight months. Selected types can be propagated by cuttings or shield-budding. As a small and early-bearing fruit tree, it can be grown as intercrops with larger fruit trees.