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Cherimoya
Annona cherimola
Cherimoya is an Andean highland fruit tree grown for a sweet, fragrant pulp with a custard-like texture, eaten raw with a spoon or worked into ice cream and cakes, and often described as tasting like a cross between banana and pineapple. Its flowers open male, then female, hours apart, so most growers hand-pollinate to get a full crop. The seeds are dangerous, not just inedible - crushed seed juice can cause blindness if it reaches the eye. It wants mild, dry-summer air rather than heat: prolonged humidity or hot, dry wind stunts it even where winter cold would be no problem.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 9–11
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Sub-Canopy- Soil pH
- 5.5–7.5
- Plant type
- Evergreen Tree
- Mature height
- 20–25 ft
- Mature spread
- 10–15 ft
- Plant spacing
- 20–25 ft
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- None
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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