Sweetsop and Atemoya

Annona cherimola Mill.

ah-NO-nah chair-ah-MOLE-ah

Annonaceae

Explanation of name:   Cherimola comes from a Quechua name meaning cold seeds.  http://www.icuc-iwmi.org/files/R7187_-_Annona%20monograph%202005.pdf   For Annona see Annona glabra.

Natural range:   Mountains of South America

Recognition:  Small deciduous tree with low branching; twigs, petiole, and outer petals pubescent. Inner petals pink. Fruit variable, almost smooth or covered with warts, the flesh white. Highly regarded for flavor. This species crossed with A. squamosa  yields the Atemoya.

Landscape uses: Edible fruit.  Difficult in South Florida apparently due to need for chilling.  Consider other Annona species, including the hybrid Atemoya.  The cold-tolerance shows up in Atemoya too, which can be grown at least as far north as Lake Okeechobee, especially along the coasts.  Pollination complicated by protogyny (flowers functionally female before male), which may require brief pollen storage followed by hand pollination.  The popular Florida Atemoya ‘Gefner’ does not require artificial pollination. Sweetsops and Atemoyas may be propagated by seeds which remain viable if kept dry,  but seed-propagation risks  inferior fruits (Atemoya is a hybrid with especially unpredictable seeds).  Better propagation is by cuttings and by grafting onto various Annona rootstocks, including the same species.    Atemoya is sometimes grafted onto Sweetsop rootstocks.

Internet sources: http://www.fshs.org/Proceedings/Password%20Protected/1974%20Vol.%2087/342-344%20(POPENOE).pdf

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/cherimoya.html

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg332

http://www.icuc-iwmi.org/files/R7187_-_Annona%20monograph%202005.pdf