This shrub from southern Mexico and Central America is now cultivated in a few gardens in southern California and southern Florida. The acid fruits, smaller than those of the Costa Rican guava, are used only for jelly-making.

The plant is of slender habit, and rarely grows more than 10 feet high. The young branchlets, peduncles, and lower surfaces of the leaves are reddish-velvety, which makes it easy to distinguish the species from P. Guajava. The leaves are oblong-oval, 3 to 5 inches long, obtuse at the apex, and rather stiff. The flowers, of which three are commonly borne upon each peduncle, resemble those of the common guava (P. Guajava). The fruit is round, about 1 inch in diameter, yellowish green to pale yellow in color, with whitish flesh containing numerous small hard seeds. The flavor is acid with little of the muski-ness which characterizes some other guavas.

This is the chamach of northern Guatemala, often called guayaba acida in Spanish. In California it has proved to be hardier than P. Guajava and of simple culture. In Florida some plants have not borne good crops while others have been productive. It cannot be considered a valuable species.