ABOUT 'SPONDIAS PINNATA' PLANT
Annona muricata
FAMILY:- ANNONACEAE
BOTANICAL NAME:- Annona muricata
VERNACULAR NAMES :
SINHALA : Katu-attha, Katu-anoda, Rata-attha TAMIL : Sitha-Seetha palam
ENGLISH : Soursop
DESCRIPTION :
A small tree about 4-10 m tall. Branches pubescent with appressed fulvous hairs when young, soon glabrate. Axillary buds narrowly conical, very acute.
LEAVES:- Leaf blade 8-11 cm long, 3-7 cm wide, obovate or narrowly obovate, rounded but short-decurrent at base, glabrous above, sparsely pubescent beneath.
FLOWERS:- Greenish-yellow, terminal or leaf-opposed.
FRUITS:- It is about 10-25 cm long, up to 15 cm in diameter. Ovoid or irregularly ovoid, dark green, covered with soft spines about 6 mm long and usually curved pulp * white.
Seed-Blackish-brown (Jayaweera, 1981).
DISTRIBUTION :
Probably it is a native of the West Indies (Querol, 1992). It could have been introduced to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese. They are now widely distributed throughout the humid tropics.
EDIBLE PARTS: The fruit
FOOD USE: Riped fruits are eaten fresh, sap of the fruit is used to prepare drinks and ice creams. Matured fruits are cooked as breadfruit.
NUTRITIONAL AND THERAPEUTIC VALUE:
Moisture - 81.7 g,
Energy - 65 kcal,
Proteins - 1.08 g,
Fats - 0.39 g,
Carbohydrates 16.3 g
Calcium - 14 mg,
phosphorus - 27 mg,
Iron - 0.68, Vitamin,
Carotene - 1 meg,
Thiamine - 70 meg,
Niacin - 60 meg,
Vitamin C-20 mg (Perera et al., 1979).
Leaf infusion used as sudorific; antipasmodic; emetic flowers are antispasmodic. The ripe fruit is antiscorbutic; unripe fruit for dysentery. Seeds and green fruit astringent (De Pauda et al., 1997).
ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE:
The soursop can be grown in a wide variety of soils, although well drained soils are more suitable. It require an annual rainfall of 100 cm or more. Adopted only to lowland areas, the soursop is widely planted in the tropics below an altitude of 100m.
CULTIVATION:
It grows in low land of wet zone up to 670 m . It is propergated by seeds. Spacing should be planted 5 m apart. It starts to bear fruits at the age of three years. In good years it bears 25-30 fruit in a season.
STORAGE:
Riped fruits can be stored 3-5 days. Fruits are picked while immature for prolonged keeping. Cordials are made in commercial scale.
