THE CUBA REVIEW 



11 



A Large Guava Tree, Showing its Characteristic Crooked Growth 



The Guava 



By C. D. Mell 



The guava (Psidium guayaba) is one of the best-known fruit trees in tropical 

 America where it is native. It has long since been distributing itself to all parts of 

 the tropical world and is everywhere a prolific fruit bearer for which it is so highly 

 esteemed. In the region of its best development the wild trees yield an abundance 

 of fruit which is Httle, if at all, surpassed in size, flavor and sweetness by any that 

 is produced under cultivation. 



The guava tree is unique in its general appearance and there is no difficulty in 

 recognizing it after having once seen it during any season of the year. Like so many 

 other members of the large group of myrtaceous plants of which the guava is one 

 of them, the stems and branches are usually crooked, irregular and with an almost 

 perfectly smooth and grayish or yellowish bark; the small branchlets are usually four- 

 sided with small opposite entire leaves which are partly deciduous during the dry 

 season of the year. 



There are a number of species which differ chiefly in the character of their fruits. 

 The trees are, as a rule, from 15 to 30 feet high and upward to 10 or more inches in 

 diameter. The wood is hard and has a fine texture. The color is brownish gray or 

 reddish with occasional lines of lighter shades which give the wood a peculiar mottled 

 appearance. It is generally regarded as a fancy wood and is used locally by carpenters 

 for making fine turned articles or for small articles for household use. It serves also 

 for making agricultural implements, because it possesses great strength, elasticity and 

 resists wear and tear. 



The best-known species is the lemon guava (Psidium guayaba), called guayaba 

 among the Spanish and goyave among the French. The fruit is more or less oval 

 and from two to four inches in diameter. It has a light yellow skin within which is a 

 white fleshy pulp which shades off into a salmon or deep pink color. The fruit, which 



