While this species is scarcely known horticulturally, so much confusion has existed regarding its identity that it seems desirable to include it here. As was stated on a former page, the guava which has been disseminated in Florida under this name is properly a horticultural form of P. Guajava; the true P. guineense may have been planted in a few Florida gardens, but it is not well known in that state. It is grown in Cuba, although not widely, so far as is known.

The shrub is of slender habit. The young branchlets are compressed-cylindrical and finely hairy. The leaves are oblongoval, acute or obtuse, 3 to 5 inches long, with the lower surfaces pubescent. The flowers, of which one to three are borne upon a single peduncle, resemble those of P. Guajava. The fruit is round or nearly so, 1 to l 1/2 inches in diameter, greenish-yellow and rather hard when ripe, with whitish flesh containing numerous small seeds. The flavor is subacid, and not so musky as that of P. Guajava.

This guava was considered by Swartz, who first described it, to be indigenous to Africa, but more recent knowledge shows this to be improbable. P. Araca, Raddi, is a synonym of this species. In Brazil many wild guavas are known by the indigenous (Tupi) name araca, a fact which has led North American nurserymen, who have obtained seeds from that country, to apply the name P. Araca erroneously to several species of Psidium. P. guineense is easily distinguished from P. Guajava by its compressed-cylindrical branchlets; by the upper surfaces of the leaves not having the venation impressed as in the latter species, and by the number of the lateral veins, which are 7 to 12 (commonly 8 or 9) pairs, in place of 12 to 18 (commonly 14 to 16) pairs.

The quality of the fruit is not sufficiently good to make the species of great horticultural value.