Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_annona_muricata

Soursop

Annona muricata

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About Soursop

Soursop (Annona muricata) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Soursop occupies warm humid lowlands and can persist in cultivated or disturbed settings, though drought causes leaf shedding and its shallow roots benefit from retained soil moisture. Thick flowers offer resources to insect visitors, and each successfully fertilized carpel contributes one unit to the aggregate fruit, so pollination quality is visible in fruit shape. Its edible pulp is likely attractive to vertebrates where fruit is accessible, but the reviewed Kauaʻi evidence establishes cultivation rather than local dispersal or naturalization.

Kauaʻi evidence

Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence.

Names and classification

Scientific name: Annona muricata
Common names: guanábana · guyabano · graviola · prickly custard apple · Soursop
Other names: Annona muricata · Soursop · guanábana · guyabano · graviola · prickly custard apple · Guanabanus muricata (L.) M.Gómez · Annona bonplandiana Kunth
Record type: Species

Kauaʻi occurrence and status

Kauaʻi occurrence: Recorded on Kauaʻi
Origin: Introduced
Conservation status: Not yet assessed
Evidence date: 2026-10-05
Evidence limits: Current extent is unassessed; public locality is island level only.

Habitat and ecology

Habitats: Not yet assessed
Food and resource needs: Not yet assessed
Reproduction: Bisexual flowers arise singly on stout woody stalks from young shoots, older branches and the trunk. Insect visitation, including beetles, bees, ants, flies, thrips and wasps, is recorded; incomplete pollination of the many separate carpels produces the fruit's frequent asymmetry. The numerous hard-coated seeds can germinate after 20–30 days under cultivation, and grafting is also used; no wild seedling recruitment is established for Kauaʻi.
Shelter: Not yet assessed
Growth form: Small evergreen or drought-deciduous tropical fruit tree

Threats and conservation

Monitoring: Not yet assessed
Data gaps: Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources

Process and seasonal context

Seasonal timing: Not yet assessed
Seasonal description: Soursop (Annona muricata) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through cultivation records. Soursop occupies warm humid lowlands and can persist in cultivated or disturbed settings, though drought causes leaf shedding and its shallow roots benefit from retained soil moisture. Thick flowers offer resources to insect visitors, and each successfully fertilized carpel contributes one unit to the aggregate fruit, so pollination quality is visible in fruit shape. Its edible pulp is likely attractive to vertebrates where fruit is accessible, but the reviewed Kauaʻi evidence establishes cultivation rather than local dispersal or naturalization.

Sources and further reading

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