Guava 



729 



produced by a Ha3rtian species. The name is Greek, in reference to the aromatic 

 foliage and fruits. The type is Anamomis fragrans (Swartz) Grisebach, native of 

 Jamaica. 



III. GUAVA 



GENUS PSIDIDM LINNAEUS 

 Species Psidium Guajava Linnaeus 



HIS tropical American species has escaped from cultivation in peninsular 

 Florida and southern California, where it occurs as a small tree or 

 shrub, in fields and thickets, reaching a maximum height of 5 meters, 

 with a trunk diameter of 1.5 dm. It is sometimes called Lemon 



guava, and is the type of the genus. 



The bark is 1.5 mm. thick, close, smooth, and red-brown to gray. The twigs 



are 4-angled and hairy. The leaves are quite persistent, opposite, firm in texture, 



usually oblong, 4 to 8 cm. long, blunt or pointed, rounded or subcordate at the 



base, entire-margined ; they are dark 



green and quite smooth above, more 



or less hairy and prominently veined 



beneath ; the leaf-stalk is short. The 



large flowers, appearing in early 



spring and irregularly during the 



summer, are white, solitary in the 



axils; their 4 or 5 calyx-lobes separate 



irregularly from each other, and are 



I to 1.5 cm. long. The corolla con- 

 sists of 4 or 5 petals 1.5 to 2 cm. 



long; stamens numerous, white, the 



anthers small; ovary inferior, 2- to 



5-celled; style filiform, longer than 



the stamens; stigma capitate; ovules many in each cell. The fruit is a globular 



or pear-shaped, leathery-skinned berry, yellow or pinkish, 3 to 6 cm. in diameter 



with an aromatic, slightly addulous pulp, and many small hard seeds imbedded 



therein. 



The wood is hard, strong and elastic, close-grained and brownish or reddish 



gray; its specific gravity is about 0.69. It is used in the tropics in small amounts 



for agricultural implements, tool-handles, and in carpentry. The fruit is largely 



used in the manufacture of jelly and preserves, Guava jelly and Guava paste 



being great favorites ; the raw fruit, however, is rather insipid. 



The genus consists of about 130 species of trees or shrubs of tropical America. 



The name is Greek, in reference to the edible fruit of the typical species. 



Fig. 669. — Guava. 



