THE GUAVA. 371 



and others, among which are the kinds most valued 

 as fruit, common to both continents. 



The white Guava (Psidium pyriferum) is the 

 best and also the most abundant in the West Indies. 

 When wild, the white guava is a shrub rather than a 

 tree, as it seldom exceeds eight or nine feet in height; 

 but, when introduced into gardens, it attains the size 

 of an ordinary apple-tree, with a trunk about six feet 

 high, and six inches in diameter. The wood is very 

 hard and tough; the leaves are from two to three 

 inches long, and grow in pairs opposite each other; 

 the flower is white, and has a very agreeable flavour; 

 the fruit is rather bigger than a hen's egg, of a sul- 

 phureous yellow, very smooth, and has a peculiar 

 smell; it is covered with a rind of some thickness, 

 within which are the seeds, contained in a pulp with- 

 out any shell. The pulp is flesh coloured, sweet, 

 aromatic, and very grateful to the palate. It is used 

 as a dessert fruit, and also preserved with sugar; and 

 guava jelly is esteemed one of the finest conserves 

 that come from the West Indies. By proper culture 

 it may be brought to be a large and handsome tree; 

 but when wild, it remains shrubby, and overruns the 

 land. 



The red Guava (Psidium pomiferum) is a much 

 larger tree than the white ; the trunk often attaining 

 the height of twenty feet. On poor soils, however, it 

 is apt to be rugged and shrubby. The leaves are of 

 a light green ; the flowers white ; the fruit shaped like 

 a pomegranate, and having an agreeable odour when 

 ripe. As a fruit, however, many of the authorities 

 represent it as being very much inferior to the white 

 guava: but it is probable that they have found it in 

 the wild state, for it appears to be much improved by 

 culture. 



The mountain guava, found in the woods of Ja- 

 maica, is not much esteemed as a fruit tree; but it 



