Cagaita, Eugenia dysenterica DC., Myrtaceae, stands out among the fruit tree species in the savanna ecosystem. Fruits of this species are consumed fresh or processed, the leaves, fruits and bark have medicinal proprieties and the wood is utilized for small construction and charcoal. Our objective was the characterization the trees and fruits of the species by sampling the populations found in Southeastern Goias State. Fruit characteristics were evaluated for 1344 fruits from 112 plants from 10 sub-populations, and data from 95 plants from ten sub-populations were collected for morphological description. Fruit characteristics showed significant variation at the 1% probability level among the 112 plants, as well as within the sub-populations and among sub-population means. The average fruit weight and seed number per fruit were 12.67 and 1.7 respectively. The highest and lowest values for plant height were 11.0 m and 4.10 m, where as for crown diameter were 10.3 m and 1.30 m respectively.
Eugenia dysenterica; savanna; morphometric variation
