Alice Springs Flora •
Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander
Known under a variety of common names such as Pineapple Guava or Guavasteen, the Feijoa sellowiana (also known under Acca sellowiana) is native to the parts of South America, and is an introduced species to Australia. Despite the common name, the Feijoa is a different genus and species, with a unique flavour.
The fruit is known as a feijoa and when mature is green, ellipsoid, and can be up to the size of a chicken egg. The sweet, aromatic flavour, is said to taste like pineapple, apple, and mint. The fruit is ripe when it falls to the ground, although it can be picked from the tree prior to falling to prevent bruising.
Pictured is a flowering/fruiting shrub growing in a garden in Alice Springs, NT.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Phylum: Charophyta
- Class: Equisetopsida
- Subclass: Magnoliidae
- Superorder: Rosanae
- Order: Myrtales
- Family: Myrtaceae
- Subfamily: Myrtoideae
- Tribe: Myrteae
- Genus: Feijoa
- Species: Feijoa sellowiana
- Family: Myrtaceae
- Genus: Acca
- Species: Acca sellowiana
Footnote & References
- Many thanks for confirmation of ID to John Forlonge and input by members of Australian Indigenous Plant Identification, Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1469859343324569/
- Acca sellowiana (O.Berg.) Burret, Pineapple Guava, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/NZOR-6-92694
- Feijoa sellowiana, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feijoa_sellowiana (last visited Oct. 29, 2022).
Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander
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