Features:
Common name: Soursop, Thorny soursop, Cachiment
Family: Annonaceae
Origin: South America
Height at maturity: between 3 and 10 meters
Hardiness: 1°C
Exposure: sunny or partial shade
Plant type: fruit tree
Vegetation: perennial
Foliage: deciduous
Flowering: all year round
Flower color: yellow
Soil type: tolerates poor soils
Watering: Normal
Use: in the garden, isolated, pot, veranda
Diseases and Pests:-
Toxicity: the fruit is edible
Storage of seeds: 3 years in a dry place away from light at 3/4°C (refrigerator)
Description:
The soursop tree is a shrub or small tree 3 to 10 meters high.
The leaves, of a shiny green, are oblong-lanceolate and measure between 10 and 17cm long and 2 to 7 cm wide.
The flowers appear on large stalks (15-20 mm long) opposite the leaves. The 6 petals are yellow, fleshy and thick. The 3 outer petals are largely oval, with close edges, without overlapping.
This small tree blooms all year round.
The fruit is very large and formed by the meeting of the carpels (a syncarp). It measures from 15 to 20 cm long, even up to 30 cm. Dark green in color, it is covered with areolas with a soft curved outgrowth. The whitish pulp is edible and contains black, flattened seeds.
The soursop is exclusively native to tropical forests: Caribbean, Central and South America, but it is very abundant in the Amazon rainforest, mainly in Brazil and Peru, where many industries mainly exploit its fruit but also other parts of the plant. It is thus found in the form of fruit, juice, ice cream, yogurt, jams, tea… It tolerates poor soils but does not support low temperatures.
