Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Hardshell custard-apple

(Annona liebmanniana)

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Description

Annona liebmanniana is a species of magnolia. This was first described by Henri Ernest Baillon. Annona liebmanniana belongs to the genus Annona in the family Annonaceae. Annona (from Taíno annon) 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. The generic name derives from anón, a Hispaniolan Taíno word for the fruit. Paleoethnobotanical studies have dated Annona exploitation and cultivation in the Yautepec River region of Medicoto to approximately 1000 BC. Plants of the genus have several common names, including sugar-apple, soursop, and guanabana. Currently, seven Annona species and one hybrid are grown for domestic or commercial use, mostly for the edible and nutritious fruits; several others also produce edible fruits. Many of the species are used in traditional medicines for the treatment of a variety of diseases, though their efficacy has yet to be validated scientifically. Several annonacaeous species have been found to contain acetogenins, a class of natural compounds with a wide variety of biological activities. The first complete genome for a species in this genus (Annona muricata) was published in 2021. Annona species are taprooted, evergreen or semideciduous, tropical trees or shrubs. The plants typically grow in areas where air temperature does not drop below 28 °F (−2 °C), especially Cuba, Jamaica, Central America, India the Philippines and Calabria (southern Italy). However, they have also been known to grow in certain parts of the Andes mountains in South America and in Florida. The woody trunks have thin bark that has broad and shallow depressions or fissures which join together and are scaly, giving rise to slender, stiff, cylindrical, and tapering shoots with raised pores and naked buds. Leaf blades can be leathery or thin and rather soft or pliable, bald or hairy. The flowering stalks rise from axils, or occasionally from axillary buds on main stems or older stems, or as solitary flowers or small bundles of flowers. Usually, the three or four deciduous sepals are smaller than the outer petals that do not overlap while in bud. Six to eight fleshy petals are arranged in two whorls the petals of the outer whorl are larger and do not overlap; inner petals are ascending and distinctively smaller, and nectar glands are darker pigmented.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum:
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Magnoliales
Family:Annonaceae
Genus:Annona
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