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Annona muricata
Also called Brazilian Pawpaw, Guanabana
Soursop is a tropical evergreen fruit tree from the Americas, grown for its large, prickly, creamy-fleshed fruit. It needs warm, humid conditions and frost-free winters.
Soursop (also called graviola, guyabano, and in Hispanic America guanábana) is the fruit of Annona muricata, a broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree. It is native to the tropical Americas and is widely propagated. It is in the same genus, Annona, as cherimoya and is in the Annonaceae family.
The soursop is adapted to areas of high humidity and relatively warm winters; temperatures below 5 °C (41 °F) will cause damage to leaves and small branches, and temperatures below 3 °C (37 °F) can be fatal. The fruit becomes dry and is no longer good for concentrate.
The plant is grown for its 10–35 cm (3.9–13.8 in) long, prickly, green fruit, which can weigh up to 10 kg (22 lb), making it the largest Annona fruit, though not as large as the related junglesop Anonidium mannii. Away from its native area, some limited production occurs as far north as southern Florida within USDA Zone 10; however, these are mostly garden plantings for local consumption. It is also grown in parts of China and Southeast Asia and is abundant on the Island of Mauritius. The main suppliers of the fruit are Mexico followed by Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Haiti. To aid soursop breeders and stimulate further development of genomic resources for this globally important plant family, the complete genome for Annona muricata was sequenced in 2021.
Annona muricata is tolerant of poor soil and prefers lowland areas between the altitudes of 0 to 1,200 m (3,900 ft). The exact origin is unknown; it is native to the tropical regions of the continental Americas and is widely propagated. It is an introduced species on all temperate continents, especially in subtropical regions.
Raw soursop is 81% water, 17% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and has negligible fat (see table). In a reference amount of 100 g (3.5 oz), the raw fruit supplies 276 kilojoules (66 kilocalories) of food energy, and contains only vitamin C as a significant amount (23%) of the Daily Value, with no other micronutrients in appreciable amounts (table).
Cherimoya · Annona coriacea · Fleshyflower Annona · Pond apple · Wild cherimoya of Jalisco · Ilama · Mountain soursop · Sugar Apple · Annona nutans · Annona paludosa · Annona · Custard apple
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Soursop 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.
