Annona squamosa - Custard apple

❏ Binomial Name : Annona squamosa L.

❏ Synonym : Annona asiatica,Annona glabra

❏ Family : Annonaceae

❏ Common Name : Custard apple

❏ Tamil Name : Sitapalam

❏ Hindi Name : Sharifa, Sitaphal

❏ IUCN status: Not Evaluated

Annona squamosa Botanical Description

Small trees. Leaves simple, alternate, ovate, oblong-lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, margin entire, reticulate vein lets fine and close. Inflorescence solitary. Flowers bisexual, pedicels slender. Sepals 3, broadly ovate, apex acute, greenish white. Petals 6, outer whorl 3, ovate, apex obtuse, greenish yellow outside, inner petals squamose, triangular or ovate, keeled outwards, reddish. Stamens many, about 1 mm long. Carpels many, subglobose, subconnate, minutely pubescent, about 1 mm long, stigma oblong, stigma entire. Fruit an aggregate of berry, reddish when ripe. Seeds many, black with dark brown patches, glossy, slightly flattened. Flowring & Fruiting : July – November

Annona squamosa Medicinal uses:

❀ Ripened fruit edible

❀ Decoction of the leaves is used as a cold remedy and to clarify urine.

❀ A bark decoction is used to stop diarrhea, while the root is used in the treatment of dysentery.

❀ The bark and leaves contain annonaine, an alkaloid.