138
Psidium
cattleianum Afzel. ex Sabine
Synonym : Guajava cattleiana (Afzel. ex Sabine) Kuntze
Family
: Myrtaceae
Local Names
: Cattley guava, Strawberry
guava, Cherry guava
Flowering
and fruiting period:
December – May
Distribution: Native of South America, widely introduced
elsewhere
Habitat: Cultivated
IUCN
status:
Data Deficient
Endemic: No
Uses: Fruits edible jam preparation. Fruit is diuretic.
Key
Characters:
Shrubs or trees, to 7 m tall; bark
grayish brown, smooth; branchlets terete. Leaves opposite, elliptic to obovate,
thickly leathery, both surfaces glabrous, secondary veins obscure, base
cuneate, apex acute. Flowers axillary, solitary. Hypanthium obconiform. Calyx
lobes 4 or 5, long ovate. Petals white, obovate. Stamens shorter than petals.
Ovary adnate to hypanthium, 4-loculed. Style slender; stigma peltate. Berry
violet when mature, pyriform to globose; flesh white, yellow, or reddish.
