Psidium guajava

Psidium guajava, the common guava,yellow guava, or lemon guava (known as goiaba in Portuguese and guayaba in Spanish) is an evergreen shrub or small tree native to the Caribbean, Central America and South America. It is easily pollinated by insects; in culture, mainly by the common honey bee, Apis mellifera.

Overview

Widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions around the world, guava 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, and a few also feature red (instead of green or yellow) skin.

When cultivated from seed, guavas are notable for an 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 2 years, or as many as 8. Cuttings and grafting 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 locales, guavas can become invasive. It has become a major problem in the Galápagos Islands.