Rose Apple (pannerale)

Rose apple is a large shrub or small-to-medium-sized tree, typically 3 to 15 metres (10 to 49 feet) high, with a tendency to low branching.  The leaves are 2 to 4 centimetres broad, 10 to 20 cm long, pointed with hardly any petiole, lively red when growing, but dark, glossy green on attaining full size. The flowers are in small terminal clusters, white or greenish white, the long, numerous stamens giving them a diameter of 5–8 cm. In temperate regions the tree is summer-flowering. The fruit is shaped like guava in appearance that people unfamiliar with it may mistake it for a guava on sight. However, the fragrance, flavour and texture are different, and instead of containing dozens of small, hard seeds set in a jelly-like tissue, as a guava does, the fruit of rose apple usually contains one or two large seeds about a cm in diameter, lying loose in a slightly fluffy cavity when ripe. Shaking a fruit to feel whether the seeds rattle, gives some indication whether it is ripe. The skin is thin and waxy. The ripe fruit however  has a strong pleasant Rose water smell hence such common names as “Rose apple”.