Feijoa sellowiana = common names = “pineapple guava” or Acca sellowiana or California feijoa tree. This is the only species in this genus. It is native mainly to the highlands of Colombia, southern Brazil, and parts of northeast Uruguay and Paraguay and northern Argentina.
This plant is an evergreen shrub or small tree (up to 23 feet or so tall but usually no more than 10 to 15 feet tall) and is a warm-temperate, subtropical plant. It requires winter chilling in order to produce its distinctive egg-sized fruit; thus it is frost tolerant. Its leaves have a silver luster to their bottoms. The flowers have five whitish petals which are puffy. There are about 25 dark red stamens projecting from the center of the flower. This flower produces fruit (they resemble limes), which is popular in places like New Zealand. Reportedly, its fruit tastes like pineapple (Wikipedia, 2026).
The fruit ‘s skin is thin, waxy, and delicate and easily bruised. Underneath the skin, its white-yellowish flesh is dense and has a consistency is similar to a pear (see reference below).
There are numerous varieties (cultivars) of this plant. This flower grows in southeastern margins of the United States. It also can be grown in southern California. According to Wikipedia (2026) it grows well in USDA Zone 10 (Wikipedia, 2026).
Classification
Kingdom Plantae
Clades (4 of them)
Order Myrtales
Family Myrtaceae [= Myrtle family]
Genus Feijoa
Type Species F. sellowiana
Feijoa is usually pronounced fay-ZHOH-uh, with the emphasis on the second syllable. Its rhymes with the word “day.
Figure 1. Feijoa ("pineapple guava") flower (without fruit).
References
https://specialtyproduce.com/produce/Fejioas
Wikipedia, 2026
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