Annona or Anona 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.
Image: Sugar apple with cross section
Image: Soursop, Annona muricata
Atemoya (A. cherimola × A. squamosa)
Cherimoya (A. cherimola) plantation
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.
Image: Sugar apple on tree
Image: Sugar apple with cross section
Michał Boym's drawing of, probably, the sugar-apple, in his Flora Sinensis (1655)
Flower