ANNONA RETICULATA

Common name: Netted Custard Apple, Bullock's heart, Bull's heart • Hindi: रामफल Ramphal • Manipuri: সীতাফল Sitaphal • Marathi: रामफल Ramphal • Tamil: Ramachita • Malayalam: Manilanilam • Kannada: ರಾಮಫಲ Ramphal • Bengali: নোনা Nona • Oriya: Ramopholo • Konkani: अनोन Anon • Gujarati: રામફલ Ramphal • Sanskrit: लवणी Lavani, कृष्णबीज Krishnabija

Botanical name: Annona reticulata    Family: Annonaceae (Sugar-apple family)

Synonyms: Annona humboldtiana, Annona humboldtii

Introduction: Netted Custard Apple is a fruit which is a close cousin of Sugar Apple. The tree that bears these fruits is a small deciduous or semi-evergreen tree sometimes reaching 10 metres tall and a native of Central America. The ill-smelling leaves are deciduous, alternate, oblong or narrow-lanceolate, 10-20 cm long, 2-5 cm wide, with conspicuous veins. 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. The compound fruit, 8-16 cm in diameter, may be symmetrically heart-shaped, lopsided, or irregular; or nearly round, or oblate, with a deep or shallow depression at the base. The skin, thin but tough, may be yellow or brownish when ripe, with a pink, reddish or brownish-red blush, and faintly, moderately, or distinctly netted.

Botanical description

Reticulata is a low tree with an open, irregular crown and slender, glabrous leaves which in some varieties are long and narrow, 10 to 20 x 2 to 7 cm, straight and pointed at the apex; and in other varieties wrinkled and up to 10 cm wide. The flowers are generally in groups of three or four, with three long outer petals and three very small inner ones. The fruit is heart-shaped or spherical and 8 to 15 cm in diameter; according to the cultivar, the flesh varies from juicy and very aromatic to hard with a repulsive taste. There is a wide variability in the presence of groups of hard cells that are similar to grains of sand. Both the outside and inside colour varies according to the cultivar.

Chemical constituents:-

The plant is reported to contain glycoside, alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, tannins, carbohydrates, proteins, phenolic compounds, phytosterols, amino acids .The various chemical constituents isolated from leaves, stems and roots of the plant including anonaine, aporphine, coryeline, isocorydine, norcorydine, glaucine.

Medicinal  uses

Antibacterial Activity, Anti Genotoxic Agent, Antidiabetic Activity, Anti Genotoxic Agent, Antihyperlipidemic Activity, Antimicrobial activity, Antioxidant – Activity, Antitumour Activity, Cytotoxic Activity, Hepatoprotective, Insecticidal Activity