Annona cherimola Mill., Annonaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  yes

Risk assessment results:  Low risk, score: -4 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: cherimoya

Hawaiian: kelemoio, momona

Spanish: chirimoya

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Rounded shrub to 5 m tall; young twigs persistently ferruginous-tomentose with very fine, short hairs; petioles stoutish, 6-10 mm long, densely tomentose; leaf blades mostly elliptic but occasionally lanceolate or broadly elliptic, cuneate to rounded at base, obtuse or acute at apex, 5-15 cm long, 3-10 cm wide, finely and softly velutinous-pubescent with tangled, subappressed, simple hairs, these ferruginous on very young growth and along veins on undersurface, soon glabrate above, the blades much paler beneath than above; flowers opposite leaves, solitary or in pairs, the petioles ferruginous-tomentose, 8-12 mm long; buds 15-18 mm long, 5-8 m broad at base, lanceolate-oblong, tomentose outside; sepals triangular, 2-4 mm long, tomentose; petals linear, 1.5-2.5 cm long at anthesis, ferruginous-tomentose on outer surface, greenish within; stamens many; fruit ovoid to globose, 5-10 cm in diameter, greenish to greenish-purple or nearly black, the surface with rounded protuberances and with U-shaped areoles, or sometimes nearly smooth; fleshy arils white, slightly acid, edible; seeds oblong, 10-12 mm long, about half as wide, smooth, black"  (Wiggins & Porter, 1971; pp. 521-522).

Habitat/ecology:  Cultivated and escapes.  "It requires cooler temperatures to prosper" (Staples & Herbst, 2005; p. 109), so probably not a threat on most Pacific islands.

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Probably native to the Andes of  Peru and Ecuador, where it thrives at elevations of 4,500-6,500 feet"  (Staples & Herbst, 2005; p. 109).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Chile (Rapa Nui Island) Rapa Nui (Easter) Island	Rapa Nui (Easter) Island (Isla de Pasqua)	introduced invasive cultivated	Meyer, Jean-Yves (2008) (p. 45)
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Mangaia Island	introduced cultivated	McCormack, Gerald (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Floreana Group	Floreana Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Isabela Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Volcán Sierra Negra, Isabela Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) San Cristóbal Group	San Cristóbal Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Ua Huka (Huahuna, Uahuka) Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J. (2004) (p. 78)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Staples, George W./Imada, Clyde T./Herbst, Derral R. (2002) (p. 4) Vouchers cited: O. Degener 7276 (BISH), J.F. Rock 12961 (BISH), A.S. Hitchcock 14507 (BISH), W. Takeuchi 5777 (BISH)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 15) Voucher cited: MacKee 23423
New Zealand (offshore islands) Kermadec Islands	Raoul Island	introduced invasive	Sykes, W. R. (1977) (pp. 75-76)
New Zealand (offshore islands) Kermadec Islands	Raoul Island	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 111) "Forming large thickets from original planted stock in old orchards".
Palau Palau (main island group)	Palau Islands (main island group)	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1979)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2009)
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2009)

Additional information:
Information from the World Agroforestry Centre's AgroForestryTree Database.

Additional online information about Annona cherimola is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Annona cherimola as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Annona cherimola may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Charles Darwin Foundation. 2008. Database inventory of introduced plant species in the rural and urban zones of Galapagos. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador.

Charles Darwin Research Station. 2005. CDRS Herbarium records.

Florence, J. 2004. Flore de la Polynésie française, Vol. 2. Paris. IRE Editions, Publications Scientifiques, Collection Faune et Flore Tropicales 41. 503 pp.

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1979. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian dicotyledonae. Micronesica 15:1-295.

Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. 2008. Flora of the Marquesas Islands. National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian Institution. Online database.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

McCormack, Gerald. 2008. Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga.

Meyer, Jean-Yves. 2008. Rapport de mission d'expertise a Rapa Nui du 02 au 11 Juin 2008: Plan d'action strategique pour lutter contre les plantes introduites envahissantes sur Rapa Nui (Île de pâques) [Strategic action plan to control invasive alien plants on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) [unpublished report]. Délégation à la Recherche, Ministère de l'Education, l'Enseignement supérieur et la Recherche, B.P. 20981 Papeete, Tahiti, Polynésie française. 62 pp. .

Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. 2005. A tropical garden flora: plants cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands and other tropical places. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 908 pp.

Staples, George W./Imada, Clyde T./Herbst, Derral R. 2002. New Hawaiian plant records for 2000. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2000. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 68:3-18.

Sykes, W. R. 1977. Kermadec Islands flora: an annotated checklist. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin 219, Wellington. 216 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2009. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.

Wiggins, I. L./Porter, D. M. 1971. Flora of the Galapágos Islands. Stanford University Press. 998 pp.