ANNONA DOLABRIPETALA

FAMILY OF ANNONACEAE

NOMENCLATUR AND SIGNIFACTION: Araticum de Guaratinguetá comes from Tupi and means: “Fruit of the soft mass”. It also called Araticum amarelo da mata atlântica, the yellow Araticum from the Atlantic Rainforest.

Note: The old name Rollinia longifolia is valid as one synonym.

Origin: It occurs naturally in the formations of the secundary mountain forests and the Atlantic Rainforest. It occurs from Espírito Santo to São Paulo. More informations in the Portuguese language see the link http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/2012/index?mode=sv&group=Root_.Angiospermas_&family=Root_.Angiospermas_.Annonaceae_&genus=Annona&species=&author=&common=&occurs=1&region=&state=&phyto=&endemic=&origin=&vegetation=&last_level=subspecies&listopt=1

Features: Tree of the height of 4 to 6 metres, with dark grey trunk of the diameter of 10 to 25 cm. The young shoots are hairy (densely hairy with short little hairs) and the nerves of the leaves are russet. The leaves are simple, longish to lanceolate, 5 to 13 cm long and 1.5 to 3.2 cm wide, with blunt base (rounded) or tilted. The flowers are greenish, axilar and have one helix with three petals with fluffy (covered with fluff) green wings with nectaries at the base of the petals. The fruits consist of several segments of 2 to 4 cm of diameter with or without seeds, parted by light yellow shell, when mature with white pulp and many seeds which are 4 to 5 mm long.

Cultivation infos: Subtropical plant, but does take colder climate with frosts of to -3°C, can be grown in whole Brazil, in every altitude; adapts well to sandy and red soils, which are profound, sour to neutral and permeated by many amounts of organic matter. Can be grown into the mountains, where the rain water does drain quickly.

Propagationhalf: Seeds are light brown and half flattened. They can be stored in one dark container, so that the germination fertility will be kept to one year. Shortly after the harvest sown seeds germinate after 40 to 90 days. When the seeds reached one size of 30 cm in the age of 7 to 8 months, they prefer shady places to develop. The fruiting begins in the age of 3 or 4 years, dependent of the soil and the culture conditions.

Planting: They can be planted in the full sun or mixed reforestations, because they do produce fruits for the fauna. In the gardens they should be planted in the distances of 5 x 5 m, where the holes should be 50 cm wide and deep, filled by 20 percents of sand and to 8 kg of organic compost well mixed. If the soil is very sour, it is good to give 2 kg of lime into the soil 3 months before planting. In the first 2 months irrigate with 10 litres of water every week.

Cultivation: Pruning of the crown and removing of the shoots, which are growing from the trunk base or the, which are crossing within the crown. Fertilze with organic compost, can be mixed with 5 kg of poultry manure with 50 grams of N-P-K 10-10-10 in this amount every year until 2nd year and repeat the fertilization annual every spring. Please think about distrubiting in the distance of 50 cm from the trunk in the area around.

Use: Fruits in the months of April and May. The fruits have sweet pulp and the fruit pulp has to suck out and to rasp by the teeth.

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