Species
+

Annona muricata L.

Brazilian pawpaw, Corossol epineux, Corossolier, Custard Apple

Climate known 42 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Soursop is the fruit of Annona muricata, a broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree. It is native to the tropical Americas and is widely propagated. It is in the same genus, Annona, as cherimoya and is in the Annonaceae family.

Text from Wikipedia, “Soursop”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Annona

Annona or Anona is a genus of flowering plants in the pawpaw/sugar apple family, Annonaceae. It is the second largest genus in the family after Guatteria, containing approximately 166 species of mostly Neotropical and Afrotropical trees and shrubs.

Text from Wikipedia, “Annona”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Annonaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica +9
Wild records
706 in range· 324 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Mar, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2039mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 241 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–36DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.0 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 2039 mm a year, wettest October at 241 mm, driest February at 91 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 17.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Annona bonplandiana Kunth; Annona cearaensis Barb.Rodr.; Annona macrocarpa Wercklé; Annona mexicana Lodd.; Annona mexicana Lodd. ex G.Don, 1830 and 8 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.0 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1460 mm of 2039 mm) falls in May to November. The temperature curve is flat, 2.0 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2039 mm a year, wettest October at 241 mm, driest February at 91 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2039 mm a year at the habitat, 1460 mm of it May to November. Wettest month October at 241 mm, driest February at 91 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1179 mm to 3855 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 17.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 17.0 °C, the absolute minimum 14.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells 15.7 °C to 23.6 °C), warmest day 28.6 °C in March (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 17.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 64 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Mar; mean night from 21 °C in Jan to 22 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2039 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 501 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 14.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°36.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)14.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 28–36RH 64–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 501 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 24–3128 / 24–3229 / 25–3229 / 25–3328 / 24–3228 / 24–3127 / 24–3228 / 24–3228 / 24–3128 / 24–3027 / 23–3027 / 23–30
Night °C21 / 16–2421 / 16–2421 / 17–2422 / 17–2522 / 18–2522 / 17–2521 / 16–2522 / 17–2522 / 17–2422 / 17–2421 / 17–2421 / 16–24
Rain mm93 / 12–28891 / 10–281114 / 16–306150 / 36–355203 / 79–410216 / 58–417180 / 41–426204 / 36–415226 / 73–433241 / 98–435190 / 44–377131 / 36–302
DLI31 / 24–3633 / 28–3836 / 29–4135 / 26–4231 / 24–4030 / 22–3831 / 23–4033 / 26–3932 / 26–3729 / 25–3528 / 24–3329 / 23–33
RH %65 / 58–7164 / 56–7064 / 56–7065 / 57–7167 / 59–7268 / 62–7367 / 60–7367 / 61–7368 / 62–7368 / 62–7468 / 61–7366 / 60–71

Each figure is the median across the 501 grid cells holding the 686 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1553:1894 (12.325, -85.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 17.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 501 distinct grid cells holding the 686 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1553:1894 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 12.50_-85.000, lapse-corrected +90 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 366 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru· introduced: Benin, Gambia, The, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mauritania, Senegal, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Andaman Is., Laos, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Christmas I., Queensland, Nauru, Niue, Santa Cruz Is., Vanuatu, Cook Is., Marquesas, Society Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Mexico Central, Mexico Southwest, El Salvador, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Galápagos, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker6.777, -75.864 · in the densest population, 163 records (23% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 706 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 324 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4 km away. 888 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 20 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 706 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Annona muricataAnnona muricataAnnona muricataAnnona muricataAnnona muricataAnnona muricataAnnona muricataAnnona muricata

Photographs: (c) Greg III Espera, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Guillermo J. Fadul R., some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Vreni Gem O. Caasi, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Maria Janeiro, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Annona muricata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research
A Antonyan, Svetlana Sharoyan, H. Harutyunyan, Luciano Barboni (2025) · International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research
Moringa oleifera: A review on nutritive importance and its medicinal application
Lakshmipriya Gopalakrishnan, Kruthi Doriya, Devarai Santhosh Kumar (2016) · Food Science and Human Wellness
Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using plant extracts and their antimicrobial activities: a review of recent literature
Chhangte Vanlalveni, Samuel Lallianrawna, Ayushi Biswas, Manickam Selvaraj (2021) · RSC Advances
Antioxidant capacities and total phenolic contents of 62 fruits
Fu Li, Botao Xu, Xiang‐Rong Xu, Ren‐You Gan (2011) · Food Chemistry
The Use of Biological Assays to Evaluate Botanicals
Jerry L. McLaughlin, Lingling L. Rogers, Jon E. Anderson (1998) · Drug Information Journal
Medicinal plants of the Andes and the Amazon - The magic and medicinal flora of Northern Peru
Rainer W. Bussmann, Douglas Sharon (2018) · Ethnobotany Research and Applications
Green nanotechnology: a review on green synthesis of silver nanoparticles — an ecofriendly approach
Shabir Ahmad, Sidra Munir, Nadia Zeb, Asad Ullah (2019) · International Journal of Nanomedicine
Phylogenetics of Flowering Plants Based on Combined Analysis of Plastid atpB and rbcL Gene Sequences
Vincent Savolainen, Mark W. Chase, Sara B. Hoot, Cynthia M. Morton (2000) · Systematic Biology
Annona muricata (Annonaceae): A Review of Its Traditional Uses, Isolated Acetogenins and Biological Activities
Soheil Zorofchian Moghadamtousi, Mehran Fadaeinasab, Sonia Nikzad, Gokula Mohan (2015) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Revisiting the Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles: Uncovering Influences of Plant Extracts as Reducing Agents for Enhanced Synthesis Efficiency and Its Biomedical Applications
Harjeet Singh, Martín F. Desimone, Shivani R. Pandya, Srushti Jasani (2023) · International Journal of Nanomedicine
Annona muricata: A comprehensive review on its traditional medicinal uses, phytochemicals, pharmacological activities, mechanisms of action and toxicity
Ana V. Coria‐Téllez, Efigenia Montalvo‐González, Elhadi M. Yahia, Eva N. Obledo‐Vázquez (2016) · Arabian Journal of Chemistry

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Annona 3 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 249 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.