Psidium cattleianum, known as yellow strawberry-guava and red strawberry-guava, belongs to the Myrtaceae family. This family has many taxonomy problems, and for this reason, is considered one of most complicated the identification of their species. With the intention to clarify these difficulties, some alternative studies are being developed, such as the anatomy of bark, tool that contributes to the understanding of taxonomic problems; however, it is a tool currently few explored. In the present study, the structure of the stem bark of yellow strawberry-guava and red strawberry-guava was analyzed and compared, in order to verify the hypothesis of two taxons for P. cattleianum. For in such a way, samples of three individuals of each morphotypes had been collected and processed in agreement of procedure indicated for structural analyzes. The differences between the morphotypes can be observed in periderm, in the arrangement of parenchymatics cells and, in general way, in the organization of the collapsed phloem. The results gotten in this research showed that the morphotypes of P. cattleianum, despite they are considered the same taxon, exhibit great differences with regard to organizational structure of the stem bark.
bark anatomy; strawberry-guava; Myrtaceae; Psidium cattleianum
