Systematic and Botanical Study of Annona Species

Introduction:
Annonaceae is one of the most primitive families within the spermatophytic (syn. Phanerogamous) plants and sometimes is called Annoniflorae, because species frequently have an indefinite number of free floral parts and spiral stamens. The family Annonaceae is found in the tropics and subtropics of both the old and new world. Annonaceae is one of the most diverse and primitive angiosperms, reported to contain from 110 to 200 genera and from 2,300 to 2,500 species (Awachare et al., 2018). The genus Annona is the second largest genus in the family with about 60 species distributed through tropical America and four species in Africa (Maas et al., 2019). Among the few types of Annona, no less than five are accessible in India and yield palatable fruit. These are: custard apple (Annona squamosa L.), cherimoya (Annona cherimoya.), soursop (Annona muricata L.), ramphal (Annona reticulata L.), and atemoya (Annona atemoya Hort.). In India, custard apples are grown in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal states. Nearby 58,000 hectares' region are covered under custard apple development. Alongside Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh are huge custard apple developing states (Anonymous, 2021).