''Psidium guajava'', the common guava, yellow guava, lemon guava, or apple guava is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

or small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

native to the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. It is easily

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or butterflies; bird ...

by insects; when cultivated, it is pollinated mainly by the common honey bee, ''

Apis mellifera The western honey bee or European honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name ''Apis'' is Latin for 'bee', and ''mellifera'' is the Latin for 'honey-bearing' or 'honey-carrying', ...

''.

Overview

Widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions around the world,

guava Guava ( ), also known as the 'guava-pear', is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava '' Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), nativ ...

fruits can range in size from as small as an apricot to as large as a grapefruit. Various cultivars have white, pink, or red flesh; a few varieties feature red (instead of green or yellow) skin. When cultivated from seed, guavas are notable for their extremely slow growth rate for several months, before a very rapid acceleration in growth rate takes over. From seed, common guavas may bloom and set fruit in as few as two years or as many as eight. Cuttings,

grafting Grafting or graftage is a horticulture, horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the roots ...

, and air layering are more commonly used as a propagation method in commercial groves. Highly adaptable, guavas can be easily grown as container plants in temperate regions, though their ability to bloom and set fruit is somewhat less predictable. In some tropical locations, guavas can become invasive. It has become a major problem in the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

. The plant is used in many different shampoo products for its scent. It is also becoming a popular bonsai species and is currently quite popular in India and Eastern Asia. Guava is a perennial tree that grows well under sun or warm temperatures. Therefore, it appears in numerous countries that have tropical weather or subtropical. Guava has a habitat contributing along roadside, grassland, or near sea level to 1600m, and it is more prevalent in humid grassland. Goiaba vermelha

Chemistry

The leaves of ''P. guajava'' contain the flavonol morin, morin-3-O-lyxoside,

morin-3-O-arabinoside Morin is a yellow chemical compound that can be isolated from ''Maclura pomifera'' (Osage orange), ''Maclura tinctoria'' (old fustic), and from leaves of ''Psidium guajava'' (common guava). In a preclinical ''in vitro'' study, morin was found to be ...

quercetin Quercetin is a plant flavonol from the flavonoid group of polyphenols. It is found in many fruits, vegetables, leaves, seeds, and grains; capers, red onions, and kale are common foods containing appreciable amounts of it. It has a bitter flavor ...

and quercetin-3-O-arabinoside.

Wood

Guava wood from Hawaii is commonly used for the

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is combusted, and the resulting smoke is typically inhaled to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream of a person. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, whi ...

of meat. The wood is resistant to insect and fungal attack. The density of oven-dry wood is about and has been found suitable for roof trusses in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Traditional medicine

''Psidium guajava'' has been used in

traditional medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) refers to the knowledge, skills, and practices rooted in the cultural beliefs of various societies, especially Indigenous groups, used for maintaining health and treatin ...

by many cultures throughout Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. It is used for

inflammation Inflammation (from ) is part of the biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. The five cardinal signs are heat, pain, redness, swelling, and loss of function (Latin ''calor'', '' ...

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

hypertension Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a Chronic condition, long-term Disease, medical condition in which the blood pressure in the artery, arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms i ...

caries Tooth decay, also known as caries,The word 'caries' is a mass noun, and is not a plural of 'carie'.'' is the breakdown of teeth due to acids produced by bacteria. The resulting cavities may be a number of different colors, from yellow to black ...

wound A wound is any disruption of or damage to living tissue, such as skin, mucous membranes, or organs. Wounds can either be the sudden result of direct trauma (mechanical, thermal, chemical), or can develop slowly over time due to underlying diseas ...

pain relief Pain management is an aspect of medicine and health care involving relief of pain (pain relief, analgesia, pain control) in various dimensions, from acute and simple to chronic and challenging. Most physicians and other health professionals ...

fever Fever or pyrexia in humans is a symptom of an anti-infection defense mechanism that appears with Human body temperature, body temperature exceeding the normal range caused by an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, s ...

diarrhea Diarrhea (American English), also spelled diarrhoea or diarrhœa (British English), is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements in a day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration d ...

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...

lung disease The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart. Their function in the respiratory syst ...

s, and

ulcer An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughin ...

Use as food and feed

Guava is an edible fruit, and can be eaten raw or cooked. The processing of the fruits yields by-products that can be fed to livestock. The leaves can also be used as fodder. It is also used by phasmid breeders to feed various stick insect species, including

extatosoma tiaratum ''Extatosoma tiaratum'', commonly known as the spiny leaf insect, the giant prickly stick insect, Macleay's spectre, or the Australian walking stick, is a large species of Australian stick insect. Range ''E. tiaratum'' is endemic to rainforests ...

eurycnema goliath ''Eurycnema goliath'', commonly known as the goliath stick insect, or the regal stick insect, is a large species of stick insect in the family Phasmatidae, Endemism, endemic to Australia and considered one of the largest species of stick insects ...

, as well as various leaf insect species such as pulchriphyllium gigantuem, pulchriphylllium pulchrifolium, and Walaphyllium Monteithei.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q166843 guajava Flora of Mexico Flora of Southern America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus