The Tropical Fruit Forum

Anikulapo,

As to the relationship between "The Sugar-Apple and its Relatives" and "The Soursop and its Relatives,"titles of lectures which I have given many times to fruit clubs,
I refer you to my user name and to my article in the Nov 1994 news magazine of The Rare Fruit and Vegetable Council of Broward County, and an updated version published in the March 2003 Tropical Fruit News.

Soursop, Mountain-Soursop, Leather-Leafed Sop, and Excellent Sop all can be interbred with each other, but attempts to interbreed them with true Annonas (Attae Group = Sugar-apple etc) meet with immediate rejection, like an allergic reaction to foreign matter.

I prefer to honor the work of a pre-Linnaean botanist (considered heresy by the worshippers of the "father of "botany).   In NOVA PLANTARUM AMERICANUM GENERA, by Charles Plumier, Paris, 1703, "Guanabanus" was published as an official genus name, derived from a quotation from Gonzalez Oviedo's 1500' book about the West Indies, which described the soursop and its Taino-language name, "Guanábano.".  Linnaeus refered to Plumier's genus name half a century later, but chose to use his own new genus name, "Anona," derived from the Taino name for Sugar-Apple, "Anón."

So using Plumier's genus name and the admittedly superior species names of later botanists, it would be:
Guanabanus muricatus
Guanabanus montanus
Guanabanus densicomus
Guanabanus hypoglaucus
Guanabanus excellens
Guanabanus coreaceus
Guanabanus dioicus
Guanabanus crassifolius
Guanabanus purpureus,
and quite a few others. I presume, that I know much less about.  I used to include Pond-Apple, but now doubt that.

Though the central areas of Amazonia are very low elevation, have day lengths varying by only 10 or 20 minutes through the year, are soetimes wet all year and other years have a 3-week to 10-week dry season, many species are distinctly seasonal in their leaf dropping and flowering.  It seems a bit of a mystery how that could be so.  Species don't necessarily have the same leaf dropping or flowering times as nearby species.

Although it is true that many Amazonian species are harmed even by temperatures in the low 50's, other species are hardy to several degrees below freezing.

This is theoretically explained post-Ice-Age plant repopulation of the vast deserts in the Amazonian lowlands from mountain refugia that had gotten enough rain for forest survival through the Ice Age.  These refugia would have been the lower eastern foothills of the Andes and the mountains and Tepuis along the current Brazilian borders with Venezuela and the Guyanas.  Non-cold-hardy species would have moved west from the Atlantic coast.

Note that the active ingredient of this PhytoFos seems to be the same as that of "Organocide Plant Doctor" (not Organocide 3-in1):  "mono- an di-potassium salts of phosporous acid."

About the purple-pulped mamey-sapote, I thought it was too dark to be attractive, and not particularly good eating.  It was just a botanical oddity. I failed to add that observation to my notes at the time, so now don't know which variety it was.

As to what happened to some of those varieties, I don't know, as I have not been to the evaluation plots for the last 11 years.

'Lorito':  Seaon in Yucatán is Dec-Feb, which is very early and long.  Small- and medium-sized fruits, very red flesh, creamy texture with no fiber or grit, excellent   flavor.

'Marín':   Season in Yucatán is Feb-Mar, which is early to mid.  Large long fruits, standout-red flesh, firm-creamy texture with little fiber, excellent flavor.
              Of the 25 selections he had made from the surrounding area, this was Eduardo Marín's favorite.  He started out calling it 'Nuevas.'

'Felipe Mayo':  One of five selections Marín made on farm of Felipe Dominguez.  Season in Yucatán is May, late.  As late season mamey-sapotes there are usually wormy, this variety's claim to faim is that it is worm-free, due to its exceptionally tough skin.

They are the same.  Officially it is "mucosa", but since that is digusting --- why name a fruit from its spoiling stage?--- we afficionados prefer the old synonym, Rollinia deliciosa Safford.  Also good is the northern Brazilian name, "Biribá."   For those using "Rollinia" as a common name, remember that there are some 45 species of Rollinia, which is a bona fide genus, that some are now lumping back into the Annona genus.

JF,

Nice Pictures, and good point!

They don't need cross-pollination.

Anikulapo,

The leaves in your picture do look like cherimoya.   Are they hairy?  The small plant that I received had narrower, pointy leaves.
The flowers could be either cherimoya or atemoya.  Another thing to check will be seed shape and color, but that won't be definitive either, because, as hybrids, different atemoyas will have different throwback details to their ancestors.

In Yucatec Mayan, 'Molix,' said moh-LEESH, means "curly," referring to the wavy margins of the leaves.  Your pictue shows straight-edged leaves, so it is not 'Molix.  [I was translating for Gary Zill when he procured this variety in Oxkutzcab, Yucatán, México.]

The fruit shape and colored new growth looks like 'Alano' to me.

Adiel,

Whether Rollinias come true from seed depends on the origin and neighborhood of the tree.  A tree that originated from several generations of self-pollinated trees
could be expected to vary only slightly from the mother tree.

If the tree comes from an area with appreciable Rollinia diversity, than noticeable variations in the offspring are to be expected.

My two trees are the result of my hybridizing a small, sweet, bright-yellow Biribá from Manaus, Brazil, with an unattractive mottley-colored, very pointy, slightly bitter, mucusey, HUGE one from Perú.  The offspring from my seeds would vary quite a bit.

Anikulapo,
I agree with your preferences for eating Biribá.  If the fruit is chilled it shouldn't be for much more than 12 hours, as it will soon become mucusey and less flavorful.

Felipe,
My favorite Reticulata is probably 'Canul', really liked 'Benque' too, but haven't had either in years.  I like most of them just fine.  I'd like to try that beautiful 'Fernandez,' of Lara Nursery, pictured in this forum.

Soncoyas are grown because they are beautiful shade trees.  The flowers and fruits are also beautiful.  The flesh smells good and tastes good, but the texture is hard to underrate:  mostly large, rough seeds; very fibrous, with the fibers attached to the rough seeds;  very gritty near the peel; slimy juice.

I grafted a second variety onto my tree for cross pollination, but that didn't occur until I did by hand in the middle of the night.  Once.  I haven't eaten any in a decade, but I still like my tree.