Psidium cattleyanum strawberry guava

Psidium cattleyanum, Coronado Avenue. Sairus Patel, 3 Dec 2024

Psidium cattleyanum leaves, fruit. From An Illustrated Manual of Pacific Coast Trees, Howard E. McMinn & Evelyn Maino

Strawberry guava is a shrub to small tree with dark red, cherry-sized, edible fruit. In squirrel-infested areas where anything edible, from plums to olives, is at risk, the guavas are left untouched. Evidently squirrels learn from others what may be eaten. The fruit is pleasant for humans to eat, with lots of pale seeds, but not as tasty as the larger, yellowish, common guava (P. guajava). A shrubby specimen is left of the driveway at 611 Coronado Avenue. One used to grow in the Stanford Avenue greenbelt opposite Peter Coutts Road. Others have been reported on campus.

Name derivation: Psidium – Psidium is the Greek word for pomegranate; cattleianum – William Cattley (d. 1832), English horticulturalist.