Annonaceae Juss.
Trees, shrubs or lianes, usually aromatic. Lvs alternate, entire, exstipulate. Fls in fascicles, panicles or sometimes solitary, usually ⚥, actinomorphic; receptacle flat to conic. Sepals (2)-3, free or united, deciduous or persistent, ± valvate, green, yellow or purplish. Petals usually 6, rarely 3-4, in 2 rows, valvate or imbricate in each whorl, sometimes outer valvate and inner somewhat imbricate, of similar colour to sepals. Stamens usually numerous, rarely few, spirally arranged; filaments very short and thick, or 0; anthers 2-locular, adnate to connective and often hidden by it, nearly always extrorse. Ovary superior; carpels few to numerous, usually free. Ovules 1-numerous; placentation basal or parietal; styles thick, short, usually free. Fr. of stalked, free carpels, or more rarely carpels united and fr. with 1-many locules, dry or succulent, usually indehiscent. Seeds with abundant ruminate endosperm, often arillate; embryo minute.
75-120 genera, 2000 spp., almost exclusively tropical and subtropical.
This large family is poorly represented in N.Z. The only really temperate sp., the edible Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal, is occasionally cultivated; this has lurid purple petals and carpels remaining free at fruiting.
