Annona senegalensis

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African custard-apple
Annona senegalensis (4337693176).jpg
Annona senegalensis fruit on a stem, with leaves near Fada N'gourma in Burkina Faso.
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Magnoliales
Family: Annonaceae
Genus: Annona
Species:
A. senegalensis
Binomial name
Annona senegalensis

Annona senegalensis, commonly known as African custard-apple, [3] wild custard apple, wild soursop, abo ibobo (Yoruba language), [4] sunkungo (Mandinka language), and dorgot (Wolof language) [5] is a species of flowering plant in the custard apple family, Annonaceae. The specific epithet, senegalensis, translates to mean "of Senegal", the country where the type specimen was collected. [6]

Contents

A traditional food plant in Africa, the fruits of A. senegalensis have the potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable land care. Well known where it grows naturally, it is largely unheard of elsewhere. [3]

Description

Annona senegalensis takes the form of either a shrub or small tree, growing between two and six meters tall. Occasionally, it may become as tall as 11 m. [6]

A. senegalensis is generally pollinated by several species of beetle, but can be hand pollinated when grown as a crop plant. Its seed viability usually lasts no more than six months. [6]

Habitat

A. senegalensis tends to grow in semiarid to subhumid regions adjacent to the coast, often, but not exclusively, on coral-based rocks with mostly sandy, loamy soils, from sea level up to 2400 meters, at mean temperatures between 17 and 30 °C, and mean rainfall between 700 and 2,500 millimetres (28 and 98 in). They are often solitary plants within woodland savannah understory, also frequently in swamp forests, or riverbanks, or on former cropland left fallow for an extended period. [6]

Distribution

It is native to tropical east and northeast, west and west-central, and southern Africa, as well as southern subtropical Africa, and islands in the western Indian Ocean. Within the nation of South Africa, it is found in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga. [6] In Zimbabwe it is widespread in the Bikita district.

A. senegalensis has become naturalized in parts of India. [6] It is also found in the islands of Maldives.

Uses

The primary use of this versatile plant is for food, but it has applications in numerous aspects of human endeavor, and every part of the plant has unique properties and uses. [6]

The flowers, leaves and fruit are edible and culinary: white fruit pulp has a mild, pineapple-like flavor. Flowers are added to spice or garnish meals; leaves are eaten by humans as vegetables, or grazed by livestock. [6] Leaves are also part of the diet of the West African giraffe. [8]

The leaves are also used to create a general health tonic, in the treatment of pneumonia, and as mattress and pillow stuffing. Specific to Sudan, leaves are boiled in the making of perfume. [6]

Bark can be processed to produce yellow-brown dye, insecticide, or medicine for treating a wide array of ailments, including worms parasitic on the intestines or flesh (notably guinea worms), diarrhea, gastroenteritis, lung infections, toothaches, and even snakebites. Natural gum in the bark is used to close open wounds. [6]

Roots are also used medicinally in treating a gamut of conditions, from dizziness and indigestion to chest colds to venereal diseases. [6]

Suckering shoots provide binding fibers, and the malleable, pale brown to white wood is used to carve tool handles, or fashioned into poles. Wood ash is an admixture to chewing tobacco and snuff, and also in soap production as solvent. [6]

The essential oils in the fruits and leaves are valued for their organic chemical constituents: car-3-ene (in fruit) and linalool (from leaves). [6]

Certain parts of A. senegalensis are used in treating skin or eye disorders. [6]

Many South Africans believe the roots can cure insanity. Some Mozambicans feed them to infants to wean them from their mother's breast. [6]

Anthracnose

Like other species within the genus Anonna, A. senegalensis is commonly afflicted by anthracnose, brought on by the fungal pathogen Colletotrichum gloesporioides , which leads to leaf drop, eventually followed by mummification of its fruit. Controls often employed against the disease include spray applications of fermate or phygon. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Asimina</i> North American Genus of fruit trees

Asimina is a genus of small trees or shrubs described as a genus in 1763. Asimina is the only temperate genus in the tropical and subtropical flowering plant family Annonaceae. Asimina have large, simple leaves and large fruit. It is native to eastern North America and collectively referred to as pawpaw. The genus includes the widespread common pawpaw Asimina triloba, which bears the largest edible fruit indigenous to the United States. Pawpaws are native to 26 states of the U.S. and to Ontario in Canada. The common pawpaw is a patch-forming (clonal) understory tree found in well-drained, deep, fertile bottomland and hilly upland habitat. Pawpaws are in the same plant family (Annonaceae) as the custard apple, cherimoya, sweetsop, soursop, and ylang-ylang; the genus is the only member of that family not confined to the tropics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soursop</span> Species of plant

Soursop is the fruit of Annona muricata, a broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree. It is native to the tropical regions of the Americas and the Caribbean and is widely propagated. It is in the same genus, Annona, as cherimoya and is in the Annonaceae family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annonaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Annonaceae are a family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest family in the Magnoliales. Several genera produce edible fruit, most notably Annona, Anonidium, Asimina, Rollinia, and Uvaria. Its type genus is Annona. The family is concentrated in the tropics, with few species found in temperate regions. About 900 species are Neotropical, 450 are Afrotropical, and the remaining are Indomalayan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherimoya</span> Edible fruit-bearing species of the genus Annona

The cherimoya, also spelled chirimoya and called chirimuya by the Inca people, is a species of edible fruit-bearing plant in the genus Annona, from the family Annonaceae, which includes the closely related sweetsop and soursop. The plant has long been believed to be native to Ecuador and Peru, with cultivation practised in the Andes and Central America, although a recent hypothesis postulates Central America as the origin instead, because many of the plant's wild relatives occur in this area.

<i>Annona</i> Genus of fruits and plants

Annona is a genus of flowering plants in the pawpaw/sugar apple family, Annonaceae. It is the second largest genus in the family after Guatteria, containing approximately 166 species of mostly Neotropical and Afrotropical trees and shrubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Custard apple</span> Index of plants with the same common name

Custard apple is a common name for several fruits and may refer to Annonaceae, the custard apple family, which includes the following species referred to as custard apples:

<i>Annona reticulata</i> Species of tree

Annona reticulata is a small deciduous or semi-evergreen tree in the plant family Annonaceae. It is best known for its fruit, called custard apple, a common name shared with fruits of several other species in the same genus: A. cherimola and A. squamosa. Other English common names include ox heart and bullock's heart. The fruit is sweet and useful in preparation of desserts, but is generally less popular for eating than that of A. cherimola.

<i>Annona squamosa</i> Species of tree

Annona squamosa is a small, well-branched tree or shrub from the family Annonaceae that bears edible fruits called sugar apples or sweetsops. It tolerates a tropical lowland climate better than its relatives Annona reticulata and Annona cherimola helping make it the most widely cultivated of these species. Annona squamosa is a small, semi-(or late) deciduous, much-branched shrub or small tree 3 to 8 metres tall similar to soursop. It is a native of tropical climate in the Americas and West Indies, and Spanish traders aboard the Manila galleons docking in the Philippines brought it to Asia.

<i>Annona glabra</i> Tropical fruit tree

Annona glabra is a tropical fruit tree in the family Annonaceae, in the same genus as the soursop and cherimoya. Common names include pond apple, alligator apple, swamp apple, corkwood, bobwood, and monkey apple. The tree is native to Florida in the United States, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and West Africa. It is common in the Everglades. The A. glabra tree is considered an invasive species in Sri Lanka and Australia. It grows in swamps, is tolerant of saltwater, and cannot grow in dry soil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilama (fruit)</span> Species of tree

The ilama or ilama tree is a tropical fruit tree found in Central America. The name is derived from the Nahuatl ilamatzapotl, of which the rough translation is "old woman's sapote". The name is also applied to a similar fruit, soncoya or cabeza de negro.

<i>Annona montana</i> Species of tree

Annona montana, the mountain soursop, is a tree and its edible fruit in the Annonaceae family native to Central America, the Amazon, and islands in the Caribbean. It has fibrous fruits. A. montana may be used as a rootstock for cultivated Annonas.

<i>Monodora myristica</i> Species of tree

Monodora myristica, the calabash nutmeg or African nutmeg, is a tropical tree of the family Annonaceae or custard apple family of flowering plants. It is native to tropical Africa from Sierra Leone in the west to Tanzania. In former times, its seeds were widely sold as an inexpensive nutmeg substitute. This is now less common outside its region of production. Other names of calabash nutmeg include Jamaican nutmeg, ehuru, ariwo, awerewa, ehiri, airama, African orchid nutmeg, muscadier de Calabash and lubushi.

<i>Annona longiflora</i> Species of plant endemic to Mexico

Annona longiflora is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is endemic to Mexico. Sereno Watson, the American botanist who first formally described the species, named it after its long flowers.

<i>Annona crassiflora</i> Species of fruit and plant

Annona crassiflora, commonly known as marolo, araticum cortiça, araticum do cerrado or bruto, is a flowering plant in the Annonaceae family. The flowers of a marolo look like jellyfish wearing hats, and the fruits are sweet and very rough. It is native to Brazil and Paraguay and the fruit is eaten by native peoples in the Brazilian Cerrado. Although it is considered to have potential for cultivation, it has not been domesticated to date.

<i>Annona bullata</i> Species of flowering plant

Annona bullata is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to Cuba. Achille Richard, the French botanist who first formally described the species, named it after the bubbled appearance of the spaces between the fine network of veins in the leaves.

<i>Annona cascarilloides</i> Species of flowering plant

Annona cascarilloides is a species of plant in the Annonaceae family. It is endemic to Cuba. According to William Edwin Safford, the species was named it after the pattern of its leaf veins which resemble species of a different genus, that at the time Safford was writing was called Cascarilla, but is now synonymous with the genera Croton and Ladenbergia. Despite this assertion by Safford, August Grisebach, the German botanist who first formally described the species, makes no mention of Cascarilla in his 1866 entry.

Annona stenophylla is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to Tanzania and Zambia. Adolf Engler and Ludwig Diels, the German botanists who first formally described the species, named it after its narrow leaves.

<i>Asimina pygmaea</i> Species of plant

Asimina pygmaea, the dwarf pawpaw or gopher berry, is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to Florida and Georgia in the United States. William Bartram, the American naturalist who first formally described the species using the basionym Annona pygmaea, named it after its dwarfed stature.

<i>Hexalobus monopetalus</i> Species of plant in the family Annonaceae

Hexalobus monopetalus is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae with the common name baboon's breakfast. It is native to Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zaire and Zimbabwe. Achille Richard, the French botanist who first formally described the species, using the basionym Uvaria monopetala, named it after its petals which are fused at their base.

<i>Monodora tenuifolia</i> Species of plant in the family Annonaceae

Monodora tenuifolia is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to equatorial Africa. George Bentham, the English botanist who first formally described the species, named it after its slender leaves.

References

  1. Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).; IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group (2019). "Annona senegalensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2019: e.T136996621A146212025. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T136996621A146212025.en . Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2.  A. senegalensis was originally described and published in Synopsis Plantarum 2(1): 95. 1806.
  3. 1 2 National Research Council (2008-01-25). "Custard Apples". Lost Crops of Africa: Volume III: Fruits. Vol. 3. National Academies Press. ISBN   978-0-309-10596-5.
  4. Bascom, William R. (Jan 1951). "Yoruba Food". Africa. Cambridge University Press. 20 (1): 47. doi:10.2307/1156157. JSTOR   1156157. S2CID   149837516.
  5. 1 2 Jones, Michael (1994). Flowering plants of the Gambia. A.A. Balkema. p. 19. ISBN   9054101970.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 "Annona senegalensis". AgroForestry Tree Database. Archived from the original on April 16, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2010.
  7. Walker JW (1971) Pollen Morphology, Phytogeography, and Phylogeny of the Annonaceae. Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, 202: 1-130.
  8. Mariama Galadima (July 7, 2008). "Le Sanctuaire des Girafes" (in French). Centre d'Echange d'Informations sur la Biodiversité du Niger. Archived from the original on December 17, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2019.