+Sweet Sop, Sugar Apple+[817]—_Anona squamosa_, Linnæus. (In British India, +Custard Apple+; but this is the name of _Anona muricata_ in America.)
The original home of this and other cultivated Anonaceæ has been the subject of doubts, which make it an interesting problem. I attempted to resolve them in 1855. The opinion at which I then arrived has been confirmed by the subsequent observations of travellers, and as it is useful to show how far probabilities based upon sound methods lead to true assertions, I will transcribe what I then said,[818] mentioning afterwards the more recent discoveries.
“Robert Brown proved in 1818 that all the species of the genus Anona, excepting _Anona senegalensis_, belong to America, and none to Asia. Aug. de Saint-Hilaire says that, according to Vellozo, _A. squamosa_ was introduced into Brazil, that it is known there under the name of _pinha_, from its resemblance to a fir-cone, and of _ata_, evidently borrowed from the names _attoa_ and _atis_, which are those of the same plant in Asia, and which belong to Eastern languages. Therefore, adds de Saint-Hilaire,[819] the Portuguese transported _A. squamosa_ from their Indian to their American possessions, etc.”
Having made in 1832 a review of the family of the Anonaceæ,[820] I noticed how Mr. Brown’s botanical argument was ever growing stronger; for in spite of the considerable increase in the number of described Anonaceæ, no Anona, nor even any species of Anonaceæ with united ovaries, had been found to be a native of Asia. I admitted[821] the probability that the species came from the West Indies or from the neighbouring part of the American continent; but I inadvertently attributed this opinion to Mr. Brown, who had merely indicated an American origin in general.[822]
Facts of different kinds have since confirmed this view.
“_Anona squamosa_ has been found wild in Asia, apparently as a naturalized plant; in Africa, and especially in America, with all the conditions of an indigenous plant. In fact, according to Dr. Royle,[823] the species has been naturalized in several parts of India; but he only saw it apparently growing wild on the side of the mountain near the fort of Adjeegurh in Bundlecund, among teak trees. When so remarkable a tree, in a country so thoroughly explored by botanists, has only been discovered in a single locality beyond the limits of cultivation, it is most probable that it is not indigenous in the country. Sir Joseph Hooker found it in the isle of St. Iago, of the Cape Verde group, forming woods on the hills which overlook the valley of St. Domingo.[824] Since _A. squamosa_ is only known as a cultivated plant on the neighbouring continent;[825] as it is not even indicated in Guinea by Thonning,[826] nor in Congo,[827] nor in Senegambia,[828] nor in Abyssinia and Egypt, which proves a recent introduction into Africa; lastly, as the Cape Verde Isles have lost a great part of their primitive forests, I believe that this is a case of naturalization from seed escaped from gardens. Authors are agreed in considering the species wild in Jamaica. Formerly the assertions of Sloane[829] and Brown[830] might have been disregarded, but they are confirmed by Macfadyen.[831] Martius found the species wild in the virgin forests of Para.[832] He even says, ‘_Sylvescentem in nemoribus paraensibus inveni_,’ whence it may be inferred that these trees alone formed a forest. Splitgerber[833] found it in the forests of Surinam, but he says, ‘_An spontanea_?’ The number of localities in this part of America is significant. I need not remind my readers that no tree growing elsewhere than on the coast has been found truly indigenous at once in tropical Asia, Africa, and America.[834] The result of my researches renders such a fact almost impossible, and if a tree were robust enough to extend over such an area, it would be extremely common in all tropical countries.