Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Rhodomyrtus psidioides

Flowers and leaf. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Flowering stems. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Common name

Native Guava

Family

Myrtaceae

Where found

Rainforest and rainforest margins. Mainly north from Palm Beach, Sydney area.

Notes

Shrub or tree to 12 m high. Fruit fleshy. Bark brown and scaly. Young branchlets hairy with pale hairs, becoming hairless. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, opposite or almost opposite each other, 5–25 cm long, 25–65 mm wide, tips pointed, upper surface hairless and glossy, lower surface paler; lateral veins conspicuous, oil glands numerous and conspicuous. Flowers with 5 white or pink petals, each 7–10 mm long, turned back when the flowers open. Flowers in 3- to many-flowered clusters. Stamens up to 5 mm long. Flowering: late spring to early summer. Fruit green to yellow, with persistent sepals near the summit, oval to round, 10-15 mm long.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Rhodomyrtus~psidioides  (accessed 5 February, 2021)