Scientific Name: Annona muricata L.

Synonyms: Annona bonplandiana Kunth., Annona cearaensis Barb.Rodr.

Unique ID: 15

Systematic Position

Class: Dicotyledonae

Sub Class: Polypetalae                          

Series: Thalamiflorae

Order: Ranales

Family: Annonaceae

Common Names

English – Soursop

Malayalam – മുള്ളാത്ത

Tamil – Aninuna, Ramachita

Hindi – Ramphal

Description: Small tree 7.5-9 m tall, new growth puberulent with reddish brown hairs. Leaves distichous, petiolate, blade narrowly obovate, narrowly elliptic or obovate-elliptic, Inflorescences cauliflorous or ramiferous, sometimes in fascicles on knobby outgrowths of trunk, or solitary and leaf-opposed, pedicels stout, Fruit a large, fleshy syncarp to 30 cm long, 15 cm long, ovoid to oblong, often somewhat curved, when fresh green without, the surface bearing regularly well-spaced, soft, conical, curved spines 2-3 mm long, the flesh white, juicy and with cotton-like fibers, surrounding the numerous seeds. Seeds light to dark brown, 13-17 mm long, 9-10 mm wide, ellipsoid, compressed, with low marginal ridge; endosperm ruminate. 

Habitat: Widely Cultivated and naturalized, altitude up to 1200 m.   

Distribution: Native to Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico Southeast, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela. But introduced to the tropics.

Uses: In addition to its use as a food crop, the seeds and many of the plant parts of A. muricata are used in traditional medicine. A. Muricata has also been used in agriculture as an intercrop species. The seeds of the fruit possess insecticidal properties and have been used for this purpose