Psidium guajava
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
yellow guava
Biostatus
Exotic
Conservation status
Not applicable
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Detailed description
Yellow guava is a small tree, growing to c. 3m, with smooth bark. The leaves are large (up to 14 x 7 cm) and have strong venation. Young leaves are densely hairy. The fruit are up top 4 cm diameter and yellow-skinned containing many hard seeds.
Similar taxa
P. guajava can be distinguished from P. cattleianum by the hairy leaves (especially when young) and by the strongly impressed veins above and raised below.
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Threats
This taxon may be prone to Myrtle Rust (Austropuccinia psidii) is an invasive fungus which threatens myrtle species - learn more myrtlerust.org.nz
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
July, August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March
Fruiting
November-March
Year naturalised
1965
Origin
Trop America
Reason for introduction
Agricultural
Tolerances
Intolerance of frost and deep shade (Cameron 1996)
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. Reproduces by seed and suckering; each fruit containing numerous seeds. Bird dispersed (Lisa Forester 1996). Rats also eat the fruit but will destroy many of the seeds.
Other information
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.