Psidium guineense Sw.

മുന്തിരിപ്പേര

Family : MYRTACEAE

Synonym :

Campomanesia multiflora (Cambess.) O.Berg

Common Names : Munthirippera, Kattupera

Flowering Period : January-October

Distribution : Native of South America

Habitat : Degraded deciduous forests

Uses : Fruit usually eaten raw, it can also be baked, stewed or made into a paste. A decoction of the bark, or of the roots, is employed to treat urinary diseases, diarrhoea and dysentery. A leaf decoction is taken to relieve colds, bronchitis and diarrhoea. The juice of the young fruit is squeezed and used as a treatment for dysentery and upset stomachs. The bark is rich in tannin.

Key Characters :

Shrubs to small trees, branchlets terete, pubescent. Leaves subopposite or opposite, subcoriaceous, 8-10 cm, broadly elliptic-oblong, pellucid dotted, entire, pubescent beneath; lateral nerves 8-10 pairs, looping; petiole 1-1.5 cm long. Flowers slightly fragrant. Calyx tube adnate to the ovary, imperfectly 5- lobed, green, pubescent without. Petals 5, caducous, white, spathulate, 1.5 x 1 cm. Stamens c. 200, white; filaments 1-1.2 cm long; anthers oblong, 0.1- 0.5 cm long, introrse, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary many- celled, ovules many in each locule; style 1.3 cm long, white, stigma capitate. Berry globose, 2-3 cm diameter, pubescent, yellow when ripe; seeds many, embedded in the creamy-yellow flesh.