freediver wrote on Mar 1
st, 2007 at 10:33am:
The wild guavas are fruiting in Brisbane. They look at alot like the apple guavas shown in this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GuavaThere are a heap growing around the Fairfield railway station, on the shopping centre side. They look like they have been fruiting for a while as there is a lot of fruit on the ground. There are a lot of small green fruit still so they will probably have a long fruiting season. They have a strong smell that reminds of lemonade. They can make a whole room smell nice. They also taste great.
I will add an article to the gardening section eventually. Just thought I'd post something now seeing as they are fruiting at the moment. If you find any more growing on public land that aren't getting eaten please let us know. They seem to grow along fence lines a lot, which may have soemthing to do with possums or birds spreading the seeds. They do well in very poor soil and there is some growing at the top of the railway cutting where the water would drain away very quickly.
They are called "Pluggers" locally here on the Fraser Coast .....
for the obvious effect they can have if you over indulge.
I first saw/noticed guavas when my father was transferred to Innisfail in 1968 .....
The fruit has a nice smell and taste but getting a good one was rare ... because most had some sort of fruit stinging insect grubs in them.
I have seen commercially grown in a supermarket before .... but like a lot of exotic fruits it was too expensive ...
and no doubt it was imported ..
I haven't heard of commercial guava farms in QLD or anywhere in Australia.