Product Code Database
Annona or Anona (from Taíno annon) is a genus of in the Asimina/sugar apple family, Annonaceae. It is the second largest genus in the family after Guatteria, containing approximately 166 Species of Annona on The Plant List. Retrieved 2013-05-28. species of mostly Neotropical and Afrotropical and .
The generic name derives from anón, a Taíno word for the fruit. Paleoethnobotany studies have dated Annona exploitation and cultivation in the Yautepec River region of Mexico to approximately 1000 BC. Plants of the genus have several common names, including sugar-apple, soursop, anona, cherimoya and guanábana.
Currently, seven Annona species (annona cherimola, annona muricata, annona squamosa, A. reticulata, A. senegalensis, A. scleroderma, Annona purpurea) and one hybrid (the atemoya) are cultivated for domestic or commercial use, mostly for the Eating and nutritious fruits; several others such as A. crassiflora and A. salzmannii also produce edible fruits. Many of the species are used in traditional medicines for the treatment of a variety of diseases, though their efficacy has yet to be validated scientifically. Several annonaceous species have been found to contain , a class of natural compounds with a wide variety of biological activities. The first complete genome for a species in this genus ( Soursop) was published in 2021. The earliest fossils have been found in the Lance Formation dating to the Late Cretaceous.
The woody trunks have thin bark that has broad and shallow depressions or fissures which join together and are scaly, giving rise to slender, stiff, cylindrical, and tapering shoots with raised pores and naked buds. Leaf blades can be leathery or thin and rather soft or pliable, bald or hairy.
The flowering stalks rise from axils, or occasionally from axillary buds on main stems or older stems, or as solitary flowers or small bundles of flowers. Usually, the three or four deciduous are smaller than the outer that do not overlap while in bud. Six to eight fleshy petals are arranged in two whorls—the petals of the outer whorl are larger and do not overlap; inner petals are ascending and distinctively smaller, and nectar glands are darker pigmented. The numerous are ball-shaped, club-shaped, or curved and hooded or pointed beyond anther sac. Numerous Gynoecium, attached directly to the base, are partially united to various degrees with a distinct stigma, with one or two ovules per pistil; the style and stigma are club-shaped or narrowly conic.
One fleshy, ovate to spherical fruit is produced per flower. Each fruit consists of Multiple fruit or syncarps, with one syncarp and seed per pistil. Seeds are bean-like with tough coats; the seed kernels are toxic.
Pollination occurs via Dynastinae, which appear to be basic generalists within the genus Annona. Those species of Annona which are more morphologically derived, as well as all Rollinia spp., possess reduced floral chambers and attract small beetles such as Nitidulidae or Staphylinidae.
==Images==
|
|
