Skip to main content

Common guava (Psidium guajava)

Jambu biji or jambu batu or stone guava or common guava (Psidium guajava) is a plant species in Myrtaceae, a small tree with upright stems and sympodial branches, 2-10 m tall, many branches, smooth bark, greenish brown, flowering throughout the year, growing in the tropics at altitudes up to 1200 m and very adaptive.

P. guajava has young rectangular-shaped stems and old hard woody stems. The surface of the trunk is slippery with a thin layer of skin and is easily peeled off. When the bark is exfoliated, the inside of the stem is green.

Dlium Common guava (Psidium guajava)

The leaves have a single structure and give off a distinctive aroma when squeezed, sitting cross-linked with the position facing and bones pinned. The shape of the leaf varies influenced by genetics and environment including oval, taper and inverted egg rounds.

Flowers have greenish white pistils with lobed head shapes. Polyandrous stamens, 0.5-1.2 cm long and white with a cream-colored head. Each flower has 180-600 stamens which the greater the diameter of the flower the more the number of stamens.

Single fruit is very dense and heavy, edible, thin skin and smooth to rough surface. Fruits have many variations for shape, size, color and taste, depending on the variety. Small and hard seeds grow in the middle of the fruit.

Fruits contain vitamin C, vitamin A, iron, calcium and phosphorus. The content of vitamin C is five times more than oranges. The fruit also contains saponins with oleanolic, Morin-3-O-α-Llyxopyranoside, morin-3-O-α-L-arabopyraoside and flavonoids, guaijavarin and quercetin.







Fruit skin contains 56-600 mg of ascorbic acid, while leaves contain flavonoids, tannins, ellagic acid, triterpenoids, guiajaverin, quercetin and other chemical compounds. Tree bark contains 12-30% tannins or polyphenols, resins and calcium oxalate crystals.

Roots are also rich in tannins, leukocyanidins, sterols and gallic acid. Twigs contain calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and sodium. Fluoride concentrations range from 0.02-0.11 ppm, copper (0.02-0.14 ppm), iron (2.86-5.14 ppm), zinc (0.31-0.57 ppm), manganese ( 0.00-0.26 ppm) and lead (0.00-0.11 ppm).

The fruit is usually eaten fresh, processed into various forms of food and drinks, treatments including improving digestion, lowering cholesterol, antioxidants, relieving fatigue and lethargy, dengue fever and canker sores. Ethanol extract of leaves as an antioxidant.

Leaves for anti-inflammatory, antidiarrheal, analgesic, antibacterial, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, reduce fever, increase platelets and inhibit the growth of rotavirus. Bark and roots to cure dysentery, vaginal discharge, thrush, ringworm, inflammation of the stomach, swollen gums and sunburned skin.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Subfamily: Myrtoideae
Tribe: Myrteae
Genus: Psidium
Species: Psidium guajava
Varieties: Psidium guajava var. cujavillum, Psidium guajava var. guajava, Psidium guajava var. minor.

Popular Posts

Broad-leaved dock (Rumex obtusifolius)

Broad-leaved dock ( Rumex obtusifolius ) is a species of plant in the Polygonaceae, herbaceous perennial, growing broadly, up to 150 cm tall, large, oval-shaped leaves with a heart-shaped base and rounded tip, large taproot with many branches extending to a depth of 150 cm. R. obtusifolius has leaves up to 30 cm long, 15 cm wide and green. Stems are long, hard, alternate, green or reddish in color and unbranched until just below the inflorescence. A main vein in the middle and green or reddish in color. Flat or wavy surface. The inflorescences consist of large clusters of racemes that contain small, greenish flowers that turn red as they mature. Seeds are reddish brown and dry. Broad-leaved dock grows in fertile soils, grasslands, waste lands, roadsides, ditches, coastlines and riverbanks, forest margins, forest clearing and agricultural land. The leaves are used as a salad to make vegetable broth or cooked like spinach. Dried seeds are used as a spice. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tr...

Khorat butterfly lizard (Leiolepis glaurung) adapts to rocky habitats for the first time in the genus

NEWS - A new species of rock-dwelling butterfly lizard (Leiolepis Cuvier, 1829) has been described from the Khorat Plateau in northeastern Thailand. This new report of Leiolepis glaurung brings the number of Leiolepis species in Thailand to six and worldwide to 11, and is the first case of an ecological adaptation to survive in a rocky habitat. L. glaurung can be distinguished from all other sexual species of Leiolepis by its combination of a black gular region with a broad yellow medial stripe, a yellow ventrum with black spots, bright red to orange subcaudal coloration, sides that can expand and retract to none, and only a single black transverse stripe on its sides. The researchers hypothesize that this morphology is an adaptation to reduce the diameter of its body to better fit into smaller rocky burrows, unlike the larger and deeper burrows built in looser soil by other species. The new specimen lives on the Khorat Plateau and is phylogenetically, ecologically, and morphologic...

Twoleaf nightshade (Solanum diphyllum)

Twoleaf nightshade ( Solanum diphyllum ) is a species of plants in Solanaceae, upright shrubs grow in shade, 1-2 m tall, rounded stems, dense, green-purple brown, short hairy, stopping cells, cornered young twigs and widely cultivated as plants decorate with bright yellow ripe fruit. S. diphyllum has leaves that are alternating, solitary or paired in twigs with generative organs. Some are stemmed for 1-1.5 cm. The leaves are oval to oblique round eggs, dynamic base, flat or wavy edges, tapered or rounded edges, 1-14.5 cm long, 0.5-4 cm wide and have short hair. Flowers facing leaves 5-25 mm long. Has a 2 mm handle, brownish purple, straight and unbranched. Hook 5-10 mm, greenish to brown and curved. The petals have five ears, resembling kupula, pale green, 1-5 mm long and short haired. Flowers have five crowns, coincide, star-shaped, yellowish white, 2-5 mm long. Has five stamens, free and facing the crown. Short and yellowish green pistil. The stigma is yellow, attached to the...