3. In the new African floras already quoted, A. squamosa and the others of which I shall speak presently are always mentioned as cultivated species.
4. McNab, the horticulturist, found A. squamosa in the dry plains of Jamaica,[853] which confirms the assertions of previous authors. Eggers says[854] that the species is common in the thickets of Santa Cruz and Virgin Islands. I do not find that it has been discovered wild in Cuba.
5. On the American continent it is given as cultivated.[855] However, M. André sent me a specimen from a stony district in the Magdalena valley, which appears to belong to this species and to be wild. The fruit is wanting, which renders the matter doubtful. From the note on the ticket, it is a delicious fruit like that of A. squamosa. Warming[856] mentions the species as cultivated at Lagoa Santa in Brazil. It appears, therefore, to be cultivated or naturalized from cultivation in Para, Guiana, and New Granada.
In fine, it can hardly be doubted, in my opinion, that its original country is America, and in especial the West India Islands.
Sour Sop—Anona muricata, Linnæus.
This fruit-tree,[857] introduced into all the colonies in tropical countries is wild in the West Indies; at least, its existence has been proved in the islands of Cuba, St. Domingo, Jamaica, and several of the smaller islands.[858] It is sometimes naturalized on the continent of South America near dwellings.[859] André brought specimens from the district of Cauca in New Granada, but he does not say they were wild, and I see that Triana (Prodr. Fl. Granat.) only mentions it as cultivated.
Custard Apple in the West Indies, Bullock’s Heart in the East Indies—Anona reticulata, Linnæus.
This Anona, figured in Descourtilz, Flore Médicale des Antilles, ii. pl. 82, and in the Botanical Magazine, pl. 2912, is wild in Cuba, Jamaica, St. Vincent, Guadeloupe, Santa Cruz, and Barbados,[860] and also in the island of Tobago in the Bay of Panama,[861] and in the province of Antioquia in New Granada.[862] If it is wild in the last-named localities as well as in the West Indies, its area probably extends into several states of Central America and of New Granada.
Although the bullock’s heart is not much esteemed as a fruit, the species has been introduced into most tropical colonies. Rheede and Rumphius found it in plantations in Southern Asia. According to Welwitsch, it has naturalized itself from cultivation in Angola, in Western Africa,[863] and this has also taken place in British India.[864]
Chirimoya—Anona Cherimolia, Lamarck.