The Guava and the Eugenia. 297 



THE GUAVA. 



GUAVAS are the produce of three or four different species 

 of Psidium, small myrtaceous trees of the West Indies 

 and other tropical countries. The leaves are in all of 

 them two or three inches long, opposite, and glabrous ; 

 the flowers are white, axillary, solitary, and almost sessile. 

 When ripe, the fruit resembles a little apple with many 

 seeds; usually it is sweet and aromatic, sometimes acid 

 and astringent. In the West Indies, the yellow or pear- 

 fruited guava, Psidium pyriferum, is used for the cele- 

 brated "guava-jelly." In England, both this one and the 

 claret-red or apple-fruited guava, Psidium pomiferum, bear 

 freely in the hothouse, and supply a pleasing addition to 

 the table. Better than either of the original kinds is 

 the purple-fruited Psidium Cattleianum, introduced from 

 China about 1817. Like the banana it does well in a 

 vinery. 



THE EUGENIA (Eugenia Ugni). 



THE Eugenias, very numerous, are also myrtaceous 

 shrubs and small trees. One of them is an eminently 

 deserving fruit-plant for south-country English gardens, 

 and for conservatories in the north. This is the Chilian 

 species with the odd native name Ugni, a pleasing little 

 bush two to five feet high, myrtle-like in foliage and 

 flowers, and in due time studded with berries resembling 



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