Species
+

Psidium guajava L.

Guajava, Guava, Guava, Guava Tree

Climate known 54 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Psidium guajava, the common guava, yellow guava, lemon guava, or apple guava is an evergreen shrub or small tree native to South America. It is pollinated by insects. When cultivated, it is pollinated mainly by the common honey bee, Apis mellifera.

Text from Wikipedia, “Psidium guajava”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

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 ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Psidium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Myrtaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Peru
Wild records
35 in range· 20 open

At a glance

Warmest month
25°C
Oct, mean day; nights 17 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1708mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Mar 259 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–35DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, November to April at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.1 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1708 mm a year, wettest March at 259 mm, driest July at 53 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 13.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Guaiava pyriformis Gaertn.; Guajava pumila (Vahl) Kuntze; Guajava pyrifera (L.) Kuntze; Myrtus guajava (L.) Kuntze; Myrtus guajava subsp. pyrifera and 38 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, November to April at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.1 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1216 mm of 1708 mm) falls in November to April. The temperature curve is flat, 2.1 °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, southern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1708 mm a year, wettest March at 259 mm, driest July at 53 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1708 mm a year at the habitat, 1216 mm of it November to April. Wettest month March at 259 mm, driest July at 53 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 921 mm to 4688 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 13.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 13.9 °C, the absolute minimum 11.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 16.1 °C in July (across the envelope cells 9.3 °C to 20.3 °C), warmest day 25.3 °C in October (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 66 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 23 °C in Jul to 25 °C in Oct; mean night from 16 °C in Jul to 18 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1708 mm of rain a year, most in Mar. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 33 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 11.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 29.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°29.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)11.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 27–35RH 66–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 33 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C25 / 18–2925 / 18–2925 / 18–2925 / 18–2924 / 18–2824 / 18–2723 / 18–2724 / 18–2825 / 19–2925 / 19–2925 / 18–2925 / 18–29
Night °C18 / 11–2318 / 11–2318 / 11–2318 / 11–2317 / 11–2217 / 10–2116 / 9–2016 / 9–2117 / 10–2217 / 10–2217 / 10–2218 / 11–23
Rain mm213 / 83–368240 / 112–378259 / 148–403184 / 89–465115 / 45–44063 / 23–44553 / 19–39156 / 13–30084 / 25–317121 / 39–379125 / 41–381195 / 86–387
DLI32 / 26–3531 / 27–3531 / 27–3530 / 26–3428 / 24–3227 / 22–3128 / 24–3332 / 28–3635 / 30–3834 / 31–3932 / 29–3831 / 27–36
RH %67 / 62–7167 / 63–7168 / 63–7168 / 63–7168 / 62–7167 / 59–7266 / 57–7266 / 56–7166 / 58–7167 / 60–7167 / 60–7167 / 61–70

Each figure is the median across the 33 grid cells holding the 35 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1842:2041 (-2.125, -77.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 33 distinct grid cells holding the 35 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1842:2041 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -2.00_-78.125, lapse-corrected -519 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1107 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativePeru· introduced: Canary Is., Cape Verde, Madeira, Burkina, Gambia, The, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Central African Republic, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Provinces, Ascension, St.Helena, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Andaman Is., Nicobar Is., South China Sea, Borneo, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Sulawesi, Christmas I., Bismarck Archipelago, Norfolk Is., Kermadec Is., Gilbert Is., Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Cook Is., Easter Is., Line Is., Marquesas, Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Hawaii, Florida, Louisiana, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Turks-Caicos Is., Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-0.371, -77.809 · in the densest population, 16 records (46% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 35 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 20 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 5 km away. 1482 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 35 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Psidium guajavaPsidium guajavaPsidium guajavaPsidium guajavaPsidium guajavaPsidium guajavaPsidium guajavaPsidium guajava

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (4); (c) Juan Antonino Sandoval, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) 胡正恆(Jackson Hu), some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Kevin Faccenda, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Bob Miller, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Psidium guajava, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antibacterial activity of plant extracts and phytochemicals on antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Gislene G. F. Nascimento, Juliana Locatelli, Paulo Chanel Deodato de Freitas, Giuliana L. Silva (2000) · Brazilian Journal of Microbiology
Screening of some plants used in the Brazilian folk medicine for the treatment of infectious diseases
Fabíola Holetz, Greisiele Lorena Pessini, Neviton Rogério Sanches, Diógenes Aparı́cio Garcia Cortez (2002) · Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Psidium guajava: A review of its traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology
Rosa Martha Pérez Gutiérrez, Sylvia Mitchell, Rosario Vargas Solís (2008) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Phytochemical Screening and Antioxidant Activities of Some Selected Medicinal Plants Used for Malaria Therapy in Southwestern Nigeria
SA Adesegun, Gloria A. Ayoola, HA Coker, A A Adepoju-Bello (2008) · Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research
Green synthesis of titanium dioxide nanoparticles using Psidium guajava extract and its antibacterial and antioxidant properties
Thirunavukkarasu Santhoshkumar, Abdul Abdul Rahuman, Chidambaram Jayaseelan, Govindasamy Rajakumar (2014) · Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine
Guava Fruit (Psidium guajava L.) as a New Source of Antioxidant Dietary Fiber
Antonio Jiménez‐Escrig, Mariela Rincón, Raquel Pulido, Fulgêncio Saura-Calixto (2001) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Effects of chitosan coating on postharvest life and quality of guava (Psidium guajava L.) fruit during cold storage
Keqian Hong, Jianghui Xie, Lubin Zhang, Dequan Sun (2012) · Scientia Horticulturae
Synergism between plant extract and antimicrobial drugs used on Staphylococcus aureus diseases
Joyce Elaine Cristina Betoni, Rebeca Passarelli Mantovani, Lidiane Nunes Barbosa, Luiz Cláudio Di Stasi (2006) · Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
The phytochemistry and medicinal value of Psidium guajava (guava)
Sumra Naseer, Shabbir Hussain, Naureen Naeem, Muhammad Pervaiz (2018) · Clinical Phytoscience
Guava (Psidium guajava) leaf powder: Novel adsorbent for removal of methylene blue from aqueous solutions
V. Ponnusami, Sahi Shivendra Vikram, Sonia Srivastava (2007) · Journal of Hazardous Materials
Guava (Psidium guajava L.) Leaves: Nutritional Composition, Phytochemical Profile, and Health-Promoting Bioactivities
Manoj Kumar, Maharishi Tomar, Ryszard Amarowicz, Vivek Saurabh (2021) · Foods

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Psidium 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 190 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.