草莓番石榴 cao mei fan shi liu

Guajava cattleyana (Sabine) Kuntze; Psidium littorale Raddi; P. variabile O. Berg.

Shrubs or trees, to 7 m tall. Bark grayish brown, smooth. Branchlets terete. Leaf blade elliptic to obovate, 5-10 × 2-4 cm, 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, ca. 1 cm. Stamens shorter than petals. Ovary adnate to hypanthium, 4-loculed. Style slender; stigma peltate. Berry violet when mature, pyriform to globose, 2.5-4 cm; flesh white, yellow, or reddish. Fl. summer.

Cultivated in Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and Yunnan [native to South America (Brazil)].

Schroeder (J. Arnold Arbor. 27: 314-315. 1946) discussed the likely publication dates of the names Psidium cattleyanum and P. littorale, both of which were published in 1821. Schroeder gave convincing reasons for P. cattleyanum having been published prior to P. littorale.