Annona muricata
Origin: Latin America (via India)
Improvement status: Unknown
Seeds per packet: ~10
BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED
Life cycle: Perennial
Native to Central America, but now widely grown in tropical climates around the world, Annona muricata is one of the best-tasting fruits in a truly delicious plant family. Called soursop in English, guanabana in Spanish, guyabano in the Philippines, and graviola in Portuguese (among many other names), the pulp and juice make a refreshing cold drink, sorbet, or ice cream, while the leaves (believed by many to have anticancer properties) are used to make tea. Its northernmost relative is the paw paw (Asiminia triloba), found in temperate North America, while most of its other delicious cousins — including cherimoya, custard apple, sugar apple, ilama, and biribá — are tropical.
In the US, soursop really only be grown outdoors in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and South Florida — or perhaps southern California. But it can thrive for a very long time as a houseplant, only growing as tall as the pot it's placed in allows. Houseplants are a good way to get its prized leaves (which will drop completely in times of cold or drought, leaving a bare tree, but this is only a first sign of danger and does not indicate an imminent threat of death — when conditions improve, the leaves will start growing back), but the plant requires tropics-level heat to fruit. Some mature plantings in northern greenhouses have been known to produce fruit.
Our India-grown seed was imported by the good folks at Sheffield's Seeds in Locke, NY.
GROWING TIPS: Seeds should be kept refrigerated until use, though they may still sprout even after getting rather dried out. They need no special treatment and will sprout within around ten days in soil between 70 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Germination is slower at lower temperatures.
NOTE: Most photos here were taken by Nate Kleinman and they show guanabana from Puerto Rico (the cut-open one was bought at a market in San Lorenzo in 2017 and the ones piled up for sale were found in Utuado in 2023) and Tulum, Mexico (the ones in the tree). Guanabana is one of Nate's very favorite fruits. The other two images are in the public domain.
