Natural History: This small tree is native to South America, from which it has been cultivated and naturalised in all tropical and subtropical parts of the world, including India. It flowers in spring and early summer, with fruits being available in late monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. The fruits are known as sugar-apples, which are edible and commercially available.
References:
Nitin, R., V. C. Balakrishnan, P. V. Churi, S. Kalesh, S. Prakash, and K. Kunte. 2018. Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10:11495–11550. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3104.10.4.11495-11550.
WFO (2023): World Flora Online. Accessed on 23 Dec 2022. URL: http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000537947.
Flowers of India (2023). Accessed on 23 Dec 2022. URL: http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Sugar%20Apple.html.
Kawthankar, N. and K. Kunte. 2024. Annona squamosa L. – Sitaphal, Sugar Apple. In Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.12. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/annona-squamosa, accessed 2024/12/05.