Scientific name: Psidium cattleyanum
Popular Names: Araçá, Yellow Araçá, Common Araçá, Beach Araçá, Comer Araçá, Coroa Araçá, Field Araçá, Pink Araçá, Red Araçá
Family: Myrtaceae
Category: Shrubs, Tropical Shrubs, Trees, Fruit Trees
Climate: Equatorial, Ocean, Subtropical, Tropical
Origin: South America, Brazil
Height: 1.2 to 3.0 meters
Luminosity: Full Sun
Life cycle: Perennial
 
The araçazeiro, whose fruit is the araçá, is a tree or small tree, with a sparse crown, often bushy, reaching 1 to 3 meters in height. It occurs naturally from Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul, in the Atlantic Forest.
Its trunk is tortuous and has smooth, scaly bark, gray to reddish brown, with pubescent branches when young.
The leaves are opposite, leathery, glabrous, simple, entire, elliptical to oblong in shape, and 5 to 10 cm long.
The flowers are solitary, axillary and white, with long stamens. The flowering period is long, extending from June to December.
The fruiting of the guava tree also extends for a long time, occurring during spring and summer.
The fruits are of the berry type, small, globose, with a red or yellow skin, with a cream to whitish pulp, juicy, sweet and acidic, with a flavor and appearance similar to guava, and with numerous seeds.
The fruits, rich in vitamin C, can be consumed in natura or in the form of juices, ice creams, jams, jams, liqueurs or marmalades. They are also very appreciated by the wild fauna, which is responsible for spreading the seeds.
 
The guava is an ideal tree for domestic orchards. Because it is small, it does not require much space to grow and bear fruit that the whole family can enjoy. It also has the power to attract a multitude of wild birds, who come to taste its delicious fruits.
For this, among other reasons, it should not be missing from recovery programs for degraded areas of the Atlantic Forest.
It should be grown in full sun, in fertile, deep soil, enriched with organic matter and irrigated regularly.
The guava tree appreciates the tropical climate, with the heat and humidity, however, it is able to tolerate the frosts of the subtropical climate. Although it prefers full sun, it tolerates partial shading.
 
Like other myrtaceae, araçá is sensitive to galls and fruit flies.