Annona purpurea

Description

It is a small to medium tree reaching a maximum of 6 to 10 metres (20 to 33 ft). It is deciduous with hairy leaves and large, strong-scented flowers. Its pollen is shed as permanent tetrads.

The fruit is rounded, 15 to 20 centimeters wide, and covered with a felt-textured brown skin that is hard to cut open when ripe. The surface of the fruit has hooklike projections. It has many seeds which have a germination time of 1 to 6 months. Trees take about 1 to 3 years to bear and can be container grown. This species is closely related to the cherimoya, the sugar-apple and other Annonas. The soncoya is fairly obscure among Annonas; the fruit is of indifferent quality and has not attracted wide cultivation. The fruit has a texture like the soursop which some may describe as stringy or fibrous.