PSIDIUM CATTLELIANUM, PSIDIUM GUINEENSE, PSIDIUM MYRTOIDES, PSIDIUM EUGENIAEFOLIA  AND PSIDIUM CATTLELIANUM

 

POPULAR NAMES: Araçá amarelo or Yellow Strawberry Guava (P. cattleliaunum), Araçá vermelho or Red Strawberry Guava (P. cattlelianum var. humile), Araçá azedo or araçá-icica (P. myrtoides) and Araçá preto, Araçá-una or Araza-One (P. eugeniaefolia).  

 

MYRTACEAE

 

 

 

INDIGENOUS NAME: Araçá comes from the Tupi Guarani and means "fruit that has eyes" in reference to persistent sepals giving the appearance of eye in the fruit. The adjectives indicate quality of fruits. Icica  means "sour" and Uma means "black" by cause of blackish purple color of the fruit.

 

Origin: The 4 species of Araçá above, occur in Brazil, the yellow strawberry guava and  icica appear in a semideciduous forest (which loses leaves in winter) across the basin of the Rio Paraná and the Atlantic Forest of Espírito Santo to Rio Grande do Sul and Araçá occurs in the savannah from Amazonia to the north of Argentina, in different forest formations.

 

Characteristics: These are medium-sized shrubs, grow 2 to 6 m (7 to 20 feet) tall, with trunk with yellowish bark which is deciduos in thin slabs, with rounded and full crown. The leaves are simple, glossy (without hair) or hairy in the case of P. myrtoides and coriaceous (with consistency of leather), take oblong shape (longer than wide) with the length of 5 to 13 cm and 2 to 7 cm wide, depending on the species, the margin is gently undulating for the P. guineense; the base and apex can be obtuse or rounded. The petiole (leaf stem or support of) measures 1 cm of length and lamina pilose (covered with hair) in the lower face and glabrous (hairless) for species of P. cattlelianum and P. eugeniaefoli; usually contain 8 to 10 pairs of lateral veins, uniforms and arched to the apex. The flowers appear solitary in groups of three flowers in the axils of the leaves and are hermaphroditic, the cup (outer shell) with 5 oblong sepals (longer than wide) of 0.8 cm long and slightly covered with fuzz. The corolla (shell internal) has 5 white petals, rounded shape with the shell.

 

Planted in the site of Frutas Raras: The Yellow Strawberry Guava and Araza-One were planted in September 1999, the Savannah Guisaro Guava and the Field Guisaro Guava were planted in November 2002, and Araçá-icica was planted in January 2003.

 

Tips for cultivation:Fast-growing plants that resist the frost below 0°C (32°F), grow at any altitude. The soil may be deep, moist, neutral, with sandy or clay formation (red soil) and even stony, but must have good natural fertility.  The tree begins to fruit from the 2nd year for most species, from the 4th year in the case of araçá-icica and araza-one.

 

Propagation: The seeds are light brown in color, reniform (with form of kidney) and germinate in 30 to 60 days, the seedlings grow rapidly if the substrate is rich in organic matter. After planting they grow around of 1 meter (3 1/3 feet) in the first year.

 

Planting: Can be planted in full sun and in forests with large trees well spaced. Space of 4 x 4 m for the Yellow Strawberry Guava and the Savannah and 6 x 6 m (20 x 20 feet) for the Araçá-icica and Araza-One. Add the 300 g of lime pit and 1 kg of ash and 8 liters of well mixed organic matter. Water every fifteen days during the first 3 months, then only water is absent at the time of bloom.

 

Cultivating: Making only training pruning of the crown and remove branches that were appeared at the base of the trunk. Fertilize with organic compost, may be (6 liters) poultry litter + 50 g of NPK 10-10-10 doubling that amount every year until the 4th year.

 

Uses: The fruit is consumed in-kind, used to make several delicious desserts. The trees should not miss in permanent reforestation preservation, as its fruit feeding species of birds and other animals and is of good wood quality for internal works.

 

Flowering in the site of Frutas Raras: From October to January (for P. catllelianum and P. guinense) and from  December to February (for the P. myrtoides and P. eigeniaefolia).

 

Fruiting in the site of Frutas Raras: The mature araza  starting in September with some species, is rotated with other species until the month of March.

 

 

 

 

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