Plantsnap – Identify Plants, Trees, Mushrooms With An App

Cherimoya (Annona cherimola)

Description

The cherimoya (Annona cherimola), also spelled chirimoya and called Chirimuya by the Inca people, is an edible fruit-bearing species of the genus Annona from the family Annonaceae, which generally is thought to be native to Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia then transported to the Andes and Central America. Today, cherimoya is grown in tropical regions throughout the world.Mark Twain called the cherimoya "the most delicious fruit known to men". The creamy texture of the flesh gives the fruit its secondary name, custard apple Annona cherimola is a fairly dense, fast-growing, woody, briefly deciduous but mostly evergreen low branched, spreading tree or shrub 5 metres (16 ft) to 9 metres (30 ft) tall.Mature branches are sappy and woody; young branches and twigs have a matting of short, fine, rust colored hairs.Leathery leaves 5 centimetres (2.0 in) to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) long 3 centimetres (1.2 in) to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) wide mostly elliptic, pointed at the ends and rounded near the leaf stalk. When young, covered with soft, fine, tangled, rust colored hairs. When mature, hairs only along the veins on the undersurface. Tops hairless and a dull medium green with paler veins,backs velvety,dull grey-green with raised pale green veins. New leaves are whitish below.Leaves are single and alternate, 2-ranked attached to the branches with stout 6 millimetres (0.24 in) to 10 millimetres (0.39 in) long and densely hairy leaf stalks.

Taxonomic tree

  • Domain: Eukarya

    • Kingdom: Plantae

      • Phylum: Magnoliophyta

        • Class: Magnoliopsida

          • Order: Magnoliales

            • Family: Annonaceae

              • Genus: Annona