On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations feijoa sponge reliable sources. Feijoa sellowiana is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae.

Feijoa sellowiana Berg is from the genus which the German botanist, Ernst Berger, named after João da Silva Feijó, a Portuguese naturalist, and the specific name honors Friedrich Sellow, a German who first collected specimens of feijoa in southern Brazil. The fruit, known as feijoa, matures in autumn and is green, ellipsoid, and about the size of a chicken egg. It has a sweet, aromatic flavour, which tastes like pineapple, apple, and mint. The flesh is juicy and is divided into a clear, gelatinous seed pulp and a firmer, slightly granular, opaque flesh nearer the skin. The fruit pulp resembles the closely related guava, having a gritty texture. The feijoa pulp is used in some natural cosmetic products as an exfoliant.

Feijoa fruit has a distinctive, potent smell that resembles that of a fine perfume. The plant is a warm-temperate, subtropical plant that also will grow in the tropics, but requires at least 50 hours of winter chilling to fruit, and is frost-tolerant. Some grafted cultivars of feijoa are self-fertile. Most are not, and require a pollinator. Seedlings may or may not be of usable quality, and may or may not be self-fertile.

Feijoas are occasionally found as landscape plants in Texas, Florida, California, and the maritime Pacific Northwest. Feijoa orchard with fallen ripe fruit. The fruit has been widely grown in New Zealand since the 1920s, and it has become a popular garden tree. It is commonly available in season from March to June. However, intercontinental shipping of feijoa by sea or air has been successful. Because of the relatively short shelf life, storekeepers need to be careful to replace older fruit regularly to ensure high quality.

In some countries, they also may be purchased at roadside stalls, often at a lower price. Feijoas may be cool-stored for approximately a month and still have a few days of shelf life at optimum eating maturity. They also may be frozen for up to one year without a loss in quality. Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults. Although the skin is edible, the fruit usually is eaten by cutting it in half, then scooping out the pulp with a spoon. The fruit has a juicy, sweet seed pulp and slightly gritty flesh nearer the skin.