• Scientific Name: Annona squamosa L.
• Ref: Sp. Pl.:537. 1753
• Synonyms: Annona asiatica L.; A. asiatica Vahl; A. cinerea Dunal; A. distincta Raeusch.; A. forsskalii DC.; Xylopia glabra L.; Xylopicron glabrum (L.) Crantz
• English Common Name: sugar-apples, sweetsops
• Chinese Common Name: 番荔枝 fān∙lìzhī, 番鬼荔枝 [粤]faan1 gwai2 lai6 zi1, 林檎 [潮]lim5 kim5, 佛头果 fótóu∙guǒ, 释迦 [闽南]sek-khia, 洋波罗 yáng∙bōluó
• Japanese Common Name: バンレイシ [蕃茘枝] banreishi, しゃかとう [釈迦頭] shakatō
• Family: Annonaceae
• Genus: Annona
• Distribution: Widely cultivated; near sea level to 200 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [native to tropical America].
• Photo: 06/21/2009, South China Botanical Garden, Guangdong

Trees, deciduous, to 8 m tall. Bark thin. Branchlets pubescent, glabrescent. Petiole 4-15 mm; leaf blade elliptic-lanceolate, narrowly elliptic, or oblong, 5-17.5 × 2-7.5 cm, thinly papery to membranous, abaxially pale green and puberulent when young but glabrate in age, base obtuse to rounded and slightly decurrent, apex acute to obtuse, lateral veins 8-15 on each side of midvein, adaxially flat. Inflorescences 1-flowered or 2-4-fasciculate. Flowers 2-3 cm, puberulent. Sepals triangular. Outer petals basally green to purple, oblong-lanceolate, 1.5-3 × 0.5-0.8 cm, fleshy, thick, inside concave, keeled on apical half; inner petals absent or reduced to scales, as long as stamens. Stamens oblong, ca. 1 mm; connective broad, apex subtruncate. Carpels oblong, distinct at anthesis; stigmas ovate-lanceolate. Syncarp greenish yellow, slightly pruinose, spherical to ovoid, 5-10 cm in diam., areoles rounded, convex, separated by deep grooves; pulp white. Seeds black-brown, ca. 14 mm. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jun-Nov. (Flora of China)

06/21/2009, South China Botanical Garden