100 
FLORIDA GUAVA. 
larger, are also pubescent when young. Most of the 
species of this genus are cultivated in the tropics for 
their fruit. The P. pyriferum, or common Guava, bears 
a fruit about the size of a hen’s egg, yellowish, with a 
peculiar odour; the pulp is rather firm, flesh-coloured, 
sweet, agreeable, and aromatic. In the West Indies it 
is highly esteemed by all classes, being eaten raw, as a 
dessert, or formed into an excellent sweetmeat and 
je%. 
Of the fruit of the Purple Guava, to which ours is so 
closely related, Lindley remarks, “The excellent flavour 
of its fruit, which is very like that of strawberries and 
cream, is far superior to either P. pyriferum, pomiferum, 
or polycarponP Mr. Sabine remarks of the fruit of this 
species, “that it is juicy, of a consistence much like that 
of a strawberry, to which it bears some resemblance in 
flavour.” 
What the present species may become, when culti- 
vated, remains to be proved, but in a genus so generally 
interesting for their fruit, the experiment is worth making, 
when an opportunity may offer. Probably, Dr. Bald- 
wyn found it growing near or above New Smyrna, as 
he did not go much farther into the interior of East 
Florida. 
Plate XXV. 
A branch of the natural size in fruit. 
