Annona Stenophylla

Annona stenophylla is a species of plant in the custard apple family, Annonaceae, native to Tanzania and Zambia. The German botanists Adolf Engler and Ludwig Diels first formally described it and named it for its narrow leaves, from the Greek words for narrow and leaf. It is a bush between 0.3 and 1 metres tall, with narrow bluish-green leaves that are paler and finely hairy beneath, solitary flowers with two rows of petals, and dark yellow, oval to round fruit up to about three centimetres across, holding numerous flat brown seeds. It grows on sandy soil and has been observed at elevations of 1200 to 1500 metres. In Zimbabwe a paste of the roots is used in traditional medicine to treat sexually transmitted infections and as a snake repellent. Compounds extracted from the bark of the root are reported to have lowered blood sugar in diabetic mice. The page records these as reported uses and findings only.