The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Annona cherimola
Also called Cherimoyer, Custard Apple
A fast-growing, mostly evergreen tropical and subtropical tree or shrub grown mainly for its custard-like fruit. It needs warmth and sun, and it is frost-sensitive.
The cherimoya (Annona cherimola) is a species of fruit-bearing plant in the genus Annona, within the family Annonaceae, which also includes the closely related sweetsop and soursop.
Native to mountainous regions of Honduras and Guatemala, the plant has a long history of cultivation in the Andes and Central America, and is now grown in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. The edible fruit is generally well regarded.
The plant has a long history of cultivation in the Andes and Central America. Today it is grown in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world, including Central America, northern South America, southern California, South Asia, Australia, the Mediterranean region, and North Africa.
In Chile, it has traditionally been cultivated in the valleys and oases of the north, as far south as the valley of Aconcagua.
Widely cultivated nowadays across tropical and subtropical regions of the world, A. cherimola originated in upland regions of the Americas. Once believed to be native to the Andes of Ecuador and Peru, genetic research places its origin in Honduras and Guatemala. Here, the genetic diversity was found to be the greatest. From its mesoamerican homeland humans brought the plant to South America about 4,000 years ago. Beginning in the 18th century, the cherimoya was distributed across the globe by Europeans.
Raw cherimoya fruit is 79% water, 18% carbohydrate, 2% protein, and 1% fat. In a 100 g (3.5 oz) reference amount providing 75 calories, cherimoya is a moderate source (10–15% of the Daily Value) of vitamin C, vitamin B6, riboflavin, and potassium, with no other micronutrients in significant content.
Annona coriacea · Fleshyflower Annona · Pond apple · Wild cherimoya of Jalisco · Ilama · Mountain soursop · Sugar Apple · Soursop · Annona nutans · Annona paludosa · Annona · Custard apple
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cherimoya by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
