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Psidium friedrichsthalianum; photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2022-05-26

Psidium friedrichsthalianum (O.Berg) Nied.

Wild guava; Costa Rican guava

Myrtaceae · Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest +14

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Psidium friedrichsthalianum, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY)Psidium friedrichsthalianum, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY)Psidium friedrichsthalianum, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY)Psidium friedrichsthalianum, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY)Psidium friedrichsthalianum, photograph (c) Michelle Monge-Velazquez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Psidium friedrichsthalianum, photograph (c) Michelle Monge-Velazquez, some rights reserved (CC BY) 32 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
15.6°C
Record low 11.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Apr, May and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,799mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–37DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, May to October (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Psidium friedrichsthalianum, the Costa Rican guava or cas, is a species of guava origin in Costa Rica but also grown in Guatemala, Nicaragua and other Central American countries. It can be found in Costa Rica as "fresco de cas”. This fruit is commonly used to prepare a sour and refreshing drink.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Psidium friedrichsthalianum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Psidium

Psidium is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Myrtaceae. It is native to warmer parts of the Western Hemisphere. Many of the species bear edible fruits, and for this reason several are cultivated commercially. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Psidium", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,945 mm of 2,623 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 3.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,623 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,945 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 399 mm, driest month March at 69 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,553 mm to 4,158 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,799 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,623 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 15.6 °C, the absolute minimum 11.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 18.0 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 14.6 °C to 23.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.9 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 63 to 69% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -803 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Psidium friedrichsthalianum through the yearWarmest months April, May and August, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 18.0 °C; 2,623 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°45°41.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER11.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 27–37RH 63–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 86 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 22–3127 / 23–3228 / 24–3329 / 25–3229 / 24–3228 / 24–3128 / 23–3029 / 23–3028 / 23–3027 / 23–3026 / 22–2925 / 22–30
Night °C18 / 15–2319 / 15–2419 / 15–2421 / 16–2422 / 16–2522 / 16–2421 / 16–2422 / 16–2422 / 16–2421 / 16–2320 / 15–2319 / 15–23
Rain mm83 / 17–22879 / 19–18969 / 31–238111 / 50–322243 / 111–428341 / 156–509303 / 150–525340 / 172–551399 / 183–578319 / 173–511206 / 96–431130 / 44–270
DLI32 / 23–3434 / 28–3836 / 33–4037 / 29–4231 / 27–4131 / 26–3732 / 26–3933 / 27–3931 / 28–3629 / 25–3427 / 24–3329 / 22–32
RH %64 / 58–7063 / 58–6863 / 57–6865 / 58–7068 / 60–7368 / 63–7468 / 63–7368 / 61–7469 / 64–7569 / 64–7569 / 62–7367 / 61–71
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 86 grid cells holding the 104 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1478:1779 (16.075, -91.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 86 distinct grid cells holding 104 of the 104 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1478:1779 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 16.00_-91.250, lapse-corrected -803 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 181 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil North · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker9.915, -84.053 · in the densest population, 53 records (26% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 205 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 104 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 144 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4 km away. 10 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 101 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 205 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Psidium friedrichsthalianum, photograph 1did not loadPsidium friedrichsthalianum, photograph 2did not loadPsidium friedrichsthalianum, photograph 3did not loadPsidium friedrichsthalianum, photograph 4did not loadPsidium friedrichsthalianum, photograph 5did not loadPsidium friedrichsthalianum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Michelle Monge-Velazquez, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Inga punctata Inga punctata Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezBacopa salzmannii Bacopa salzmannii Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY, Nicolas OlejnikSobralia decora Sobralia decora Decorative Sobralia Photo: CC BY, Ian AdamsPsiguria warscewiczii Psiguria warscewiczii Cucurbitaceae Photo: CC BY, Eduardo Chacón MadrigalMaxillaria crassifolia Maxillaria crassifolia Hidden orchid Photo: CC BY, keesgroenendijkOdontonema tubaeforme Odontonema tubaeforme Firespike Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Psidium 13 in the reference

Psidium acutangulum Psidium acutangulum Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, JleochPsidium amplexicaule Psidium amplexicaule Mountain guava Photo: CC BY-SA, Kurt MillerPsidium cattleianum Psidium cattleianum Strawberry guava Photo: CC BY, marius Psidium densicomum Myrtaceae Psidium guajava Psidium guajava Guava Photo: CC BY-SA, Daniel DiasPsidium guineense Psidium guineense Guinea guava Photo: CC BY-SA, cristianol1456Psidium longipetiolatum Psidium longipetiolatum Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY, João MedeirosPsidium myrtoides Psidium myrtoides Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY, Bruno Luka de Souza Bambirra SilveiraPsidium oligospermum Psidium oligospermum Sintenis' guava Photo: CC BY, Alberto Alcalá Psidium pedicellatum Myrtaceae Psidium salutare Psidium salutare Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY, Seba Fernández Psidium sorocabense Myrtaceae all 14 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Calyptropsidium friedrichsthalianum. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Myrtaceae
Described by
(O.Berg) Nied.
Native to
Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast +13
Wild records
205 in range · 144 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 18 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (18 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 16.00_-91.250, lapse-corrected -803 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 59 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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