Custard Apple

Bullock’s heart or Custard apple (as it is called in W. Indies) is a native of Tropical America. In Pakistan, it is occasionally cultivated in Sind (Stewart, l.c.). The fruit is inferior in taste as compared to Annona squamosa. Unripe fruit is anthelmintic, seeds and leaves have insecticidal properties.

Small tree upto 8 m tall. Stem ± glabrous, young branches pubescent. Leaves lanceolate to oblanceolate, 13.5-17 x 2.5-4.5 cm, acute to acuminate with subrounded to cuneate base, glabrous above, sparsely hairy on underside, young leaves densely hairy on both sides. Petiole 12-15 mm, sparsely hairy. Peduncle woody and stout, leaf opposed or extra-axillary, usually 2-3-flowered, occasionally branched and bearing more flowers. Bract caducous, bracteole deltoid, densely hairy, almost in the middle of pedicel. Pedicel 2.5-3 cm, stout, minutely hairy to glabrous, usually pendant. Sepals broadly deltoid, pilose, basally connate. Outer petals ovate, 17-19 x 6-7 mm, thick, triquetrous, obtuse, basally concave within, pilose externally, puberulent within; inner petals minute, frequently absent. Receptacle convex, glabrous. Stamens linear, 1.5 mm long, filament less than half the length of anther, connective-tip rounded. Carpels basally connate, ovary pilose dorsally, 1-ovuled, stigma elongated. Fruit 10-15 x 7.5-12.5 cm, subglobose to roughly heart shaped, ± smooth, areoles separated by a marked reticulation but not tuberculate, reddish brown when ripe, pulp white or cream, aromatic, granular, adhering closely to the seeds. Seeds smooth, black.

West Indies. Cultivated throughout the tropics (Custard Apple).

Distribution: Widely cultivated in Old and New World tropics.

Fl. Per.: October - throughout winter.