Guava

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Guava

Guavas are plant

Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
s in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae

Myrtaceae

The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtus, clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here....
) genus

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
Psidium, which contains about 100 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
of tropical shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
s and small tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s. Native to Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
and Central America

Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
, northern South America

South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
, parts of the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
and some parts of North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
, guavas are now cultivated and naturalized throughout the tropics

Tropics

The Tropics, seated in the equatorial regions of the world, are limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23?26' N latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23?26' S latitude....
, and are also grown in some subtropical regions.

The most frequently-encountered species, and the one often simply referred to as "the guava", is the Apple Guava (Psidium guajava).

Guavas are typical Myrtoideae, with tough dark leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
that are opposite, simple, elliptic to ovate and 5-15 cm long.

Nutrition Facts

??? Nutrition Facts
Calories in ???
Carbs in ???
Fat in ???

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Encyclopedia

Guavas are plant

Plant

Myrtaceae

The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtus, clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here....
) genus

Genus

Species

Shrub

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s. Native to Mexico

Mexico

Central America

South America

Caribbean

North Africa

Tropics

Leaf

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s are white, with five petals and numerous stamens.

The genera Accara
Accara

Accara elegans is the sole species of the monotypic genus Accara in the botany family Myrtaceae. It is a shrub native to Brazil, reaching 1-2m in height....
and Feijoa
Feijoa

The Feijoa , also known as Pineapple Guava or Guavasteen, is an evergreen shrub or small tree, in height, originating from the highlands of southern Brazil, parts of Colombia, Uruguay and northern Argentina....
(= Acca, Pineapple Guava) were formerly included in Psidium.

Common names

The term "guava" appears to derive from Arawak

Arawak

The term Arawak , was used to designate some of the peoples encountered by the Spain in the West Indies in 1492 and thereafter. These include the Ta?no, who occupied the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas and Bimini Florida, the Nepoya and Suppoyo of Trinidad and the Igneri, who were supposed to have preceded the Caribs in the Lesser Anti...
guayabo "guava tree", via the Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
guayaba. It has been adapted in many Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
an languages: guava (Danish and Norwegian, also Greek G????ßa and Russian ?????), Guave (Dutch and German), goyave (French), gujawa (Polish), goiaba (Portuguese).

Outside of Europe, the Arabic jwafa, the Japanese guaba, the Tamil goiyaa, the Tongan kuava and probably also the Tagalog bayabas are ultimately derived from the Arawak term.

Another term for guavas is pera or variants thereof. It is common around the western Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
and probably derives from some language of southern India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, though it is so widespread in the region that its origin cannot be clearly discerned anymore. Pera itself is used in Malayalam, Sinhala and Swahili. In Marathi it is peru, in Bengali pearah, and in Dhivehi feyru.

In northern India and Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India and north of Australia....
, jaam (used in Farsi, Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, also known as High Hindi, Nagari Hindi or Literary Hindi is a Standard language register of Hindi. It is one of the 22 official languages of India, and is used, along with English language, for administration of the central government....
, Punjabi and Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a Central_Indo-Aryan_languages#Central_Zone_.28Madhya_or_Hindi.29 Indo-Aryan languages of the Indo-Iranian languages, belonging to the Indo-European languages family of languages....
) and derived forms are most widespread. Jaama is used in Telugu, jaamba (in addition to peru) in Marathi, jambu or jambu batu in Indonesian and Malay, and jhamruk in Gujarati. Note that jambu or jumbu may also refer to Syzygium
Syzygium

Syzygium is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the Myrtus family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1100 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific Ocean....
fruit (rose apples or water apples).

There are some other names for guavas which have a more limited use. These include amrood (used in Farsi, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu as an alternative to jaam), bihi (used in some Central Indian dialects of Hindi), da-bike (Khmer), ?i (Vietnamese, pa?t-á (Min Nan

Min Nan

The Southern Min language, or Min Nan, refers to a family of Chinese dialects which are spoken in southern Fujian and neighboring areas, and by descendants of overseas Chinese in diaspora....
), peguulli (Oriya), pha-rang (Thai) and seebe kayi (Kannada).

Additional terms for guavas from their native range are, for example, sawintu (Quechua

Quechua

Quechua is a Native American language of South America. It was already widely spoken across the Central Andes long before the time of the Inca Empire, who established it as the official language of administration for their Empire, and is still spoken today in various regional forms by some 10 million people through much of South America, in...
) and xalxocotl (Nahuatl)

Ecology and uses

(Psidium guabaya) flower]] Psidium species are used as food plants by the caterpillar

Caterpillar

Caterpillars are the larval form of a member of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly phytophagous in food habit, with some species being entomophagous....
s of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
, mainly moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
s like the Ello Sphinx (Erinnyis ello), Eupseudosoma aberrans, Snowy Eupseudosoma (E. involutum) and Hypercompe icasia. Mite

Mite

Mites, along with ticks, belong to the subclass Acarina and the class Arachnida. Mites are among the most diverse and successful of all the invertebrate groups....
s like Pronematus pruni
Pronematus pruni

Pronematus pruni is a species of mite belonging to the family Tydeidae. This small oval mite is around 300 ?m in length with a smooth body and legs much shorter than the body....
and Tydeus munsteri
Tydeus munsteri

Tydeus munsteri is a species of mite belonging to the family Tydeidae. This very small oval, eyeless mite is around 250 ?m in length with a soft body covered in striations....
are known to parasitize the Apple Guava (P. guabaya) and perhaps other species. The bacterium Erwinia psidii
Erwinia psidii

Erwinia psidii is a Gram-negative bacterium and a phytopathogen of the Common Guava , causing rot in branches, flowers and fruits. Recently, it was demonstrated that this species produces two acyl-homoserine lactones , widely recognized bacterial quorum sensing signaling substances, and employed in bacterial cell-to-cell communication sys...
causes rot diseases of the Apple Guava.

The fruit are not only relished by humans, but by many mammal

Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s and bird

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s as well. The spread of introduced guavas owes much to this fact, as animals will eat the fruit and disperse the seeds in their droppings.

In several tropical regions, including Hawaii, some species (namely Strawberry guava

Strawberry guava

Cattley guava or Peruvian guava is a small tree , bearing small red or yellow fruit, which are somewhat sour but sometimes eaten or made into jam....
, P. littorale) have become invasive species

Invasive species

Invasive species is a phrase with several definitions. The first definition expresses the phrase in terms of non-indigenous species that adversely affect the habitats they invade economically, environmentally or ecologically....
. On the other hand, several species have become very rare due to habitat destruction

Habitat destruction

Habitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species originally present. In this process, plants and animals which previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity....
and at least one (Jamaican Guava, P. dumetorum), is already extinct

Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the death of every member of a species or group of taxon. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species ....
.

Guava wood is used for meat smoking in Hawai?i and is being used at barbecue

Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque is a method and apparatus for cooking food, often meat, with the heat and hot gases of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal and may include application of a marinade, spice rub, or Basting barbecue sauce to the meat....
competitions across the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. In Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is a country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba , the island of Isla de la Juventud, and several adjacent small islands....
the leaves are also used in barbecues, providing a nice smoked flavor and scent to the meat.

Cultivation for fruit

Guavas are cultivated in many tropical and subtropical countries for their edible fruit. Several species

Species

Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s are those most commonly traded internationally.

Mature trees of most species are fairly cold-hardy and can survive as low as for short periods of time, but younger plants will not survive. They are known to survive in Northern Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
where they can get down to 5°C or lower during the night. Guavas are also of interest to home growers in temperate areas, being one of the very few tropical fruits that can be grown to fruiting size in pots indoors.

Culinary uses

Guava fruit, usually 4 to 12 cm long, are round or oval depending on the species. The outer skin may be rough, often with a bitter taste, or soft and sweet. Varying between species, the skin can be any thickness, is usually green before maturity, but becomes yellow, maroon, or green when ripe. Guava fruit generally have a pronounced and typical fragrance, similar to lemon

Lemon

The lemon is the common name for Citrus limon. The reproductive tissue surrounds the seed of the angiosperm lemon tree. The lemon is used for culinary and nonculinary purposes throughout the world....
rind but less sharp. Guava pulp may be sweet or sour, off-white to deep pink, with the seeds in the central pulp of variable number and hardness, again depending on species.

The fruit is also often prepared as a dessert. In Asia, fresh raw guava is often dipped in preserved prune

Plum

A plum or gage is a drupe tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and the side buds solitary , the flowers being grouped 1-5 together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one side, and a smooth stone....
powder or salt. Because of the skin's high level of pectin

Pectin

Pectin is a structural heteropolysaccharide contained in the primary cell walls of terrestrial plants. It was first isolated and described in 1825 by Henri Braconnot....
, boiled guava is also extensively used to make candies, preserves, jellies, jams, marmalades (goiabada
Goiabada

Goiabada is a popular dessert throughout the Portuguese language-speaking countries of the, dating back to the colonial days of slavery - especially in Brazil - and was cooked over a slow fire....
), and also for juices and aguas frescas

Aguas frescas

Aguas frescas are a combination of either fruits, cereals, or seeds, and sugar and water, blended together to make a refreshing beverage. Although they originated and are most common in Mexico, aguas frescas have also become popular in Central America, the Caribbean, and the United States....
. Guava juice is very popular in Mexico

Mexico

Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
and South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
. Red guavas can be used as the base of salted products such as sauces, constituting a substitute for tomato

Tomato

The Tomato is an herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, as are its close cousins Nicotiana, potatoes, aubergine , chilli peppers, and the poisonous Atropa belladonna....
es, especially for those sensitive to the latter's acidity. In Asia, a tea is made from guava fruits and leaves.

Nutritional value

Guavas are often marketed as "superfruit

Superfruit

Superfruit, a marketing term first used in the food and beverage industry in 2005, refers to a fruit which combines exceptional nutrient richness and antioxidant quality with appealing taste that can stimulate and retain loyalty for consumer products....
s", being rich in vitamins A

Vitamin A

Vitamin A, a bi-polar molecule formed with bi-polar covalent bonds between carbon and hydrogen, is linked to a family of similarly shaped molecules, the retinoids, which complete the remainder of the vitamin sequence....
and C

Vitamin C

Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is an essential nutrient for humans, a large number of simian species, a small number of other mammalian species , a few species of birds, and some fish....
, and if the seeds are eaten too, omega-3

Omega-3 fatty acid

n-3 fatty acids are a family of unsaturated fat fatty acids that have in common a final carbon?carbon double bond#Bond order in the essential fatty acid#Nomenclature and terminology position; that is, the third bond from the methyl end of the fatty acid....
and omega-6

Omega-6 fatty acid

n-6 fatty acids are a family of unsaturated fat fatty acids which have in common a final carbon?carbon double bond#Bond order in the Fatty acid#Nomenclature position; that is, the sixth bond from the end of the fatty acid....
polyunsaturated fatty acid

Polyunsaturated fatty acid

Polyunsaturated fatty acids are those which contain more than one double bond....
s and especially high levels of dietary fiber

Dietary fiber

Dietary fiber, sometimes called "roughage", is the indigestible portion of plant foods that pushes food through the digestive system, absorbing water and easing defecation....
. A single Apple Guava (P. guajava) fruit contains over four times the amount of vitamin C as a single orange (over 200 mg per 100 g serving) and also has good levels of the dietary mineral

Dietary mineral

Dietary minerals are the chemical elements required by living organisms, other than the four elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen present in common organic chemistry....
s, potassium

Potassium

Potassium is a chemical element. It has the symbol K , atomic number 19, and atomic mass 39.0983. Potassium was first isolated from potash, hence the name....
, magnesium

Magnesium

Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg, atomic number 12, atomic weight 24.3050 and common oxidation number +2.Magnesium, an alkaline earth metal, is the ninth most abundance of the chemical elements in the universe by mass....
, and generally a broad, low-calorie profile of essential nutrient

Essential nutrient

An essential nutrient is a nutrient required for normal body functioning that cannot be synthesized by the body and thus must be obtained from a Diet source....
s.

However, nutritional value is greatly dependent on species, the Strawberry Guava

Strawberry guava

Cattley guava or Peruvian guava is a small tree , bearing small red or yellow fruit, which are somewhat sour but sometimes eaten or made into jam....
(P. littorale var. cattleianum) notably containing only 30-40 mg of vitamin C per 100g serving, practically a tenth of the vitamin C found in more common varieties. Vitamin C content in the Strawberry Guava is still a high percentage (62%) of the Dietary Reference Intake

Dietary Reference Intake

The Dietary Reference Intake is a system of nutrition recommendations from the Institute of Medicine of the US United States National Academy of Sciences....
however.

Guavas contain both carotenoid

Carotenoid

Carotenoids are organic compound pigments that are naturally occurring in chromoplasts of plants and some other photosynthesis organisms like algae, some types of fungus and some bacterium....
s and polyphenol

Polyphenol

Polyphenols are a group of chemical substances found in plants, characterized by the presence of more than one phenol unit or building block per molecule....
s – the major classes of antioxidant

Antioxidant

An antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the Redox of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent....
pigment

Pigment

A pigment is a material that changes the color of light it Reflection as the result of selective color absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which the material itself emits light....
s –, giving them relatively high dietary antioxidant value among plant foods. As these pigments produce the fruits' color, guavas that are red or orange in color have more potential value as antioxidants sources than yelllowish-green ones.

Apple Guava, per 100 g of edible portion
Calories	36-50
Moisture	77-86 g
Dietary Fiber Dietary fiber Dietary fiber, sometimes called "roughage", is the indigestible portion of plant foods that pushes food through the digestive system, absorbing water and easing defecation....	2.8-5.5 g
Protein Protein Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....	0.9-1.0 g
Fat	0.1-0.5 g
Ash	0.43-0.7 g
Carbohydrates	9.5-10 g
Calcium Calcium Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft grey alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the earth's Crust ....	9.1-17 mg
Phosphorus Phosphorus Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. The name comes from the and . A Valency nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus is commonly found in inorganic phosphate minerals....	17.8-30 mg
Iron Iron Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....	0.30-0.70 mg
Carotene Carotene The term carotene is used for several related substances having the formula C40Hx, which are synthesized by plants but cannot be made by animals.... (Vitamin A)	200-400 I.U
Ascorbic acid Ascorbic acid Ascorbic acid is a sugar acid with antioxidant properties. Its appearance is white to light-yellow crystals or powder. It is water-soluble. The L-enantiomer of ascorbic acid is commonly known as vitamin C.... (Vitamin C)	200-400 mg
Thiamin (Vitamin B₁)	0.046 mg
Riboflavin Riboflavin Riboflavin , also known as vitamin B2, is an easily absorbed micronutrient with a key role in maintaining health in humans and animals.... (Vitamin B₂)	0.03-0.04 mg
Niacin Niacin Niacin, also known as vitamin B3, is a water-soluble vitamin which prevents the Nutrition disorder pellagra. It is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5NO2.... (Vitamin B₃)	0.6-1.068 mg

Nutrient data source: US Department of Agriculture from Healthaliciousness.com

Medical uses

Since the 1950s, guavas – particularly the leaves

Leaves

Leaves are an Iceland five-piece alternative rock band who formed in 2001. They came to prominence in 2002 with their debut album, Breathe, drawing comparisons to groups such as Coldplay and Doves....
– have been a subject for diverse research in chemical identity of their constituents, pharmacological properties and history in folk medicine; most research has been restricted to the Apple Guava (P. guajava) however, and any additional beneficial properties of other species remain essentially unstudied. From preliminary medical research in laboratory models, extract

Extract

An extract is a substance made by wikt:extracting a part of a raw material, often by using a solvent such as ethanol or water. Extracts may be sold as tinctures or in powder form....
s from Apple Guava leaves or bark are implicated in therapeutic mechanisms against cancer

Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
, bacteria

Bacteria

The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals....
l infections, inflammation

Inflammation

Inflammation is the complex biological response of Blood vessel tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. It is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli as well as initiate the healing process for the tissue....
and pain

Pain

Pain, in the sense of physical pain, is a typical sensory experience that may be described as the unpleasant awareness of a noxious stimulus or bodily harm....
. Essential oil

Essential oil

An essential oil is a concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. They are also known as volatile or ethereal oils, or simply as the "oil of" the plant material from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove....
s from guava leaves have shown strong anti-cancer activity in vitro

In vitro

In vitro refers to the technique of performing a given procedure in a controlled environment outside of a living organism. Some may argue that in vitro refers to a process that is created in a "test tube"; however, Robert Kail and John Cavanaugh on page 58 in the 4th edition of Human Development: A Life-Span View cite that in fact th...
.

Guava leaves are used in folk medicine as a remedy for diarrhea

Diarrhea

In medicine, diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea , is characterized by frequent loose or liquid bowel movements. The spelling of "diarrhea" is an appropriation of the Greek "diarrhoia" meaning "a flowing through." ....
and, as well as the bark, for their supposed antimicrobial

Antimicrobial

An antimicrobial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microbes such as bacteria, fungi, protozoals or viruses. Antimicrobial drugs either kill microbes or prevent the growth of microbes ....
properties and as an astringent

Astringent

An astringent substance is a chemical that tends to shrink or constrict body tissues, usually locally after topical medicinal application. The word "astringent" derives from Latin adstringere, meaning "to bind fast"....
. Guava leaves or bark are used in traditional treatments against diabetes

Guava

Common names

Ecology and uses

Cultivation for fruit

Culinary uses

Nutritional value

Medical uses

Selected species

See also

Footnotes

External links