Psidium amplexicaule Pers.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Myrtaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Psidium amplexicaule Pers.

  • Description

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    Species Description - tree 2-4 m tall; bark tan, smooth, thin, peeling Fig. 154. off in long irregular flakes; twigs cylindric slightly flattened, glabrous, becoming cylindric at maturity. Leaf blades 3-7 x 3-6.5 cm, ovate, nearly rounded or obovate, coriaceous, glabrous, obscurely gland-dotted, midvein impressed to plane on upper surface, the apex rounded, the base cordate, clasping the stem, or less often rounded, the margins revolute; petioles 1-2.5 mm long. Flowers 1 or 2 in short axillary racemes; axis 2-3 mm long; pedicels slender, 7-10 mm long; bracts fleshy, 1.5 mm long. Hypanthium funnel-shaped, 4-5 mm long, glabrous, glandular roughened, the sepals widely ovate, 4-4.5 mm long, puberulent within; petals white, obovate, glabrous, 6-7 mm long; disk 5-6 mm wide, glabrous; stamens numerous, the filaments 5-6 mm long, glabrous; style stout. Berry ellipsoid to globose, 1.5-2 cm diam., smooth, green.

  • Discussion

    Common name: mountain guava.

  • Distribution

    A common shrub of moist forests. Bordeaux (A2862, A5216). Also on St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; Puerto Rico and Nevis. According to Britton and P. Wilson (1925), this species was cultivated on St. Croix and Guadeloupe.

    Guadeloupe South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Puerto Rico South America| Saint Kitts and Nevis South America| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America|