262 GAKDEN PLANTS. PART II. 



APPLE OR RED GUAVA. 



The shrub that bears this variety is somewhat smaller, with 

 smaller and darker leaves, and is distinguished also by bearing 

 more than one flower on the footstalk. The fruit, which is red 

 inside, is of a fuller and more strawberry-like flavour, but has 

 generally the fault of being densely filled with seeds. 



Why the one variety should be denoted as the Pear and the 

 other as the Apple it is difficult to tell ; for in external appear- 

 ance they are commonly so decidedly similar that, until cut open, 

 it is impossible to distinguish the one from the other. 



Psidium Cattleianum. 



PURPLE-FRUITED GUAVA. 



Don describes this species of Guava as " a tree of from ten to 

 twenty feet in height ; a native of China." Sir J. Paxton makes 

 it synonymous with P. Chinense ; but whether a distinct variety 

 does not appear. It has been described as a fine foliaged plant, 

 whose thick, leathery, perfectly smooth obovate leaves somewhat 

 resemble those of Camellia Japonica. Sir J. Paxton says of it : 



" Not many plants have a greater claim on our attention. Its 

 dark, shining foliage and pendulous branches make it a great orna- 

 ment. ... It is, perhaps, the most perfect and graceful evergreen 

 that an amateur of plants ought to desire, or even can possess." * 



The fruit, according to the description given of it, is of the 

 size and form of a large Plum, of a deep claret colour. 



Mr. Tillery says, " he has six or seven varieties of Guava ; but 

 all are worthless compared with Cattley's." 



There seems a doubt whether this species, by all accounts so 

 desirable, has ever been introduced into this country. Dr. Yoigt 

 enumerates it among the plants still wanting up to the year 1841. 

 A solitary small tree exists in the Calcutta Botanical Gardens, 

 which the malees point out as having had the name assigned it 

 by Dr. Wallich, but is far from answering to the description of 

 the plant given by Don and others. It has never yet yielded 

 fruit. Another small plant, likewise of recent introduction, has 

 been shown me there, which corresponds more nearly with the 

 ordinary descriptions; but as it has not fruited or flowered, 



* 'Magazine of Botany,' vol. i. p. 118. 



