Psidium cattleyanum Sabine
purple guava
Large shrub or small tree to 6 m high. Trunk smooth, pale brown. Shoots terete or subterete, puberulent when young. Petioles 7-10 mm long, puberulent. Lamina 4-8 × 2.5-4.5 cm, obovate, ciliolate toward base of margins and midrib, at least when young, otherwise glabrous, dotted with glands beneath, glossy and dark green above; lateral veins fairly conspicuous in dried material but not impressed or markedly raised; base cuneate, often narrowly so; apex usually obtuse, sometimes rounded. Fls solitary, often produced in nearly all axils of upper lvs; pedicels 7-10 mm long, puberulent, jointed near apex with very small, caducous, ovate bracteoles. Hypanthium and calyx limb glandular-punctate; lobes usually 5, 3-4 mm long. Petals c. 5 mm long, elliptic, white, ± glandular-punctate. Stamens > petals. Style c. 4 mm long, stout. Fr. ± globose, c. 2 cm diam., becoming dark purple, occasionally yellow; flesh usually purple, occasionally whitish, sweet. Seeds numerous.
N.: local at Tamaterau (near Whangarei, N. Auckland), Kohimaramara (Auckland); K.: Raoul Id.
S. Brazil 1977
Cultivation escape in and around old orchards and to a limited extent in scrub along roadside and in indigenous forest.
FL Jun-Mar.
P. cattleianum was presumably introduced to Raoul in the late nineteenth century and poses an even greater threat to the indigenous forest than does P. guajava, as shown by its very aggressive behaviour on Norfolk Id and elsewhere in the Pacific. For this reason an intensive eradication campaign was instituted; all mature bushes have been eradicated and the area is periodically checked for seedlings. The yellow form of P. cattleianum has been occasionally seen on Raoul and is indistinguishable from the ordinary form except for the colour of the fr.; however, it need never be confused with P. guajava because of the different lvs (as indicated in the key). Purple guava has been previously known in N.Z. as P. littorale.
