CSIR-NEERI Biodiversity Portal

RAMPHAL

Annona reticulata L.

Botanical name	: Annona reticulata L.
Synonym	: Annona humboldtiana
Vernacular name	: Ramphal / Netted custard apple
Family	: Annonaceae
About the Tree	: Annona reticulata is a, erect growing tree, with a rounded or spreading crown. Originated in West Indies to Central America & South Mexico, exotic to India. It is cultivated and occasionally naturalized in tropical areas worldwide, including Florida ,Southeast Asia, India, Australia.
Height	: Ranges from 5-10m,
Bark	: Trunk 25-35 cm thick. Bark yellowish brown to brown in colour.
Leaf	: The ill-smelling leaves are deciduous, alternate, oblong or narrow-lanceolate, 10-20 cm long, 2-5 cm wide, with conspicuous veins.
Flower	: Flowers, in drooping clusters, are fragrant, slender, with 3 outer fleshy, narrow petals 2-3 cm long; light-green externally and pale-yellow with a dark-red or purple spot on the inside at the base. The flowers never fully open.
Fruits	: The compound fruit, 8-16 cm in diameter, roundish to heart-shaped to irregular with a depression at the base. Tough, thin skin may be yellow to brown to red when ripe. Flesh is thick creamy-white and custard-like somewhat granular, flesh beneath the skin surrounding moderately juicy segments, in many of which there is a single, hard, dark-brown or black, glossy seed, oblong, smooth, less than 1.25 cm long. Actual seed counts have been 55, 60 and 76. Red fruits sometimes have pink flesh or red lines running through the flesh
Season	Flowering in summer, fruits appear in autumn.
Medicinal Properties Peculiar Character	: The bark is very astringent and the decoction is taken as a tonic and also as a remedy for diarrhea and dysentery. A root decoction is taken as a febrifuge : It is best known for its fruit.