Genetics
Is Guava indica or sativa? Its genetics and family tree
Guava is not one plant. The Guava on Leafly, AllBud and SeedFinder is a sativa-leaning Gelato phenotype from the Cookies Fam; Top Dawg Seeds’ Guava, from its first Star Dawg release in 2011, is a Stardawg phenotype; and Flavour Chasers’ Guava seeds are Stardawg × Afghani and listed as mostly indica.1,2,3,4,5 Weedmaps describes both families on one page.6
Family tree
- GelatoCookies Fam Guava: a Gelato phenotype
- StardawgChem 4 × Tres Dawg; Top Dawg’s 2011 Guava is a phenotype, Flavour Chasers’ is Stardawg × Afghani
Guava
- Grandi GuavaGuava × Gelato
- Guava RuntzGuava × Runtz
- Guava IXStardawg × Guava
- Frosted GuavaGuava × Frosted Skywalker
- Guava KushGuava × OG Kush
- White Hot Guava (one version)Guava × White Fire OG
Three plants, one name
Sources agree that “Guava” is used for different plants. Weedmaps puts it plainly: the name “got passed around enough to end up attached to completely different family trees”.6
| Version | Lineage | Type | Who says so |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cookies Fam Guava | A Gelato phenotype; SeedFinder lists Gelato as both parents | Sativa-leaning (Leafly); 80% sativa (AllBud); mostly sativa (SeedFinder) | Leafly; AllBud; SeedFinder; Weedmaps1,2,3,6 |
| Top Dawg Seeds’ Guava, and Stardawg Guava | A phenotype from the first Star Dawg release (Chem 4 × Tres Dawg), 2011; Leafly lists Chemdawg #4 as Stardawg Guava’s parent | Stardawg Guava: sativa (Leafly); sativa-dominant (Weedmaps) | High Times interview with Top Dawg Seeds; Leafly; Weedmaps4,12,13 |
| Flavour Chasers’ Guava (feminized seed) | Stardawg × Afghani | Mostly indica (SeedFinder); indica-leaning (Weedmaps) | SeedFinder; Weedmaps, whose lineage field shows this cross5,6 |
| Bean Addicts’ Guava (feminized seed) | Guava × Guava, from the Cookie Fam Genetics Guava | Indica/sativa | SeedFinder3,14 |
Leafly files Sherbinski’s Guava Gelato, also a Gelato phenotype, as a separate strain.15
The Cookies Fam’s Gelato phenotype
Leafly describes Guava as a sativa-leaning hybrid from the Cookies Fam and a Gelato phenotype with a fruity and gassy aroma and flavor, and says it was “selected and celebrated as a good strain to start the day with”.1 AllBud says it was created as a phenotype of Gelato, and SeedFinder files it under Cookie Fam Genetics.2,3
Gelato itself is Sunset Sherbet × Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies. Leafly’s genealogy of the Cookies family says its pheno-hunt ended with an invite-only tasting on June 16, 2014, and that the selections Gelato 25, 33, 41, 43, 45 and 49 went into production. The article does not mention Guava, and no source we opened says when the Guava phenotype was selected.16,17
The Stardawg Guava
The earliest Guava on record is Top Dawg Seeds’. Asked in 2016 which versions of Star Dawg growers were keeping, the breeder named “Guava, Illuminati, Corey Haim and Kate Upton”, and said of the first release: “First release was 2011. That’s when the Guava came out.” The breeder called it “not super strong” but a good yielder that does well commercially.4
Star Dawg is Chem 4 × Tres Dawg, and Tres Dawg is Top Dawg’s own cross of Chemdog’s Chem D cut with Sensi Seeds’ Afghan #1, backcrossed twice.4,18 Leafly lists Stardawg Guava as a sativa with Chemdawg #4 as its parent; Weedmaps says The Bank’s version is Stardawg Haze × Guava and that flower sold under the name generally descends from Stardawg.12,13
How sativa is it?
It depends on which Guava. For the Cookies Fam’s Guava, AllBud lists 80% sativa / 20% indica, Leafly says sativa-leaning and mostly energizing, and SeedFinder mostly sativa.1,2,3 Leafly calls Stardawg Guava a sativa.12 Flavour Chasers’ Stardawg × Afghani is listed as mostly indica, and Weedmaps calls it indica-leaning.5,6 Among the crosses, Leafly lists Guava IX as 50% sativa and 50% indica and Grandi Guava as indica-leaning, and Garden of Green’s Guava × OG Kush is 75% sativa.7,9,10
Not the same strain: Strawberry Guava, Guava Cake and other namesakes
Many strains carry Guava in their names without being Guava. The ones most often mistaken for it:
| Name | What it is | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Strawberry Guava | Strawberry Banana × Papaya, from Oni Seed Co.; also called Strawguava | Leafly; Weedmaps19,20 |
| Guava Cake | A Wedding Cake line: a Seed Junky Genetics backcross of Wedding Cake’s Gold Leaf phenotype (Weedmaps); “believed to be made through a special cross of Wedding Cake” (Leafly) | Weedmaps; Leafly21,22 |
| Pink Guava | A Deo Farms selection from Dying Breed Seeds’ OZ Kush; used to make RS-11, RS-54 and Zoap | Leafly23,24 |
| Guava Gelato | A Gelato phenotype from Sherbinski, with its own Leafly entry | Leafly; Weedmaps6,15 |
| White Hot Guava | Several origins, among them Top Dawg Seeds’ Stardawg × White Hashplant (sold as White Guava) and Clearwater Genetics’ Mai Tai #4 × Guava Gelato | Weedmaps11 |
| Guava IX | Stardawg × Guava, bred by Nature’s Heritage; 50% sativa | Leafly; Weedmaps9,25 |
| Guava Lava | Sherbert × Kauai Mints | Leafly26 |
Which Guava is in our lab numbers
Plain Guava only. The 92 tests on this site carry the name Guava, sometimes with a number or a word such as “buds”, and come from Michigan (64), Nevada (16), California (5), Hawaii (3), Washington (3) and Colorado (1).27 Results labelled Guava IX are excluded: Leafly lists Guava IX as a separate Stardawg × Guava cross bred by Nature’s Heritage, and a Leafly product page shows that brand’s Guava IX flower at dispensaries in Ellicott City, Maryland.9,27,28 It is the largest group of near-miss names in our data, with 472 results.27
The name is used far more widely than that. In all, our matching excluded 2,379 results across all product types (1,354 of them flower) sold under longer Guava names, led by “Guava IX” (472), “Guava Lava” (96) and “Guava Jelly” (73).27 Leafly lists Guava Lava as Sherbert × Kauai Mints, a different strain.26
Strains bred from Guava
| Strain | Cross | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Grandi Guava | Guava × Gelato, bred by Grandiflora; indica-leaning | Leafly7 |
| Guava Runtz | Guava × Runtz, bred by the Cookies Fam | Leafly8 |
| Guava IX | Stardawg × Guava, bred by Nature’s Heritage | Leafly9 |
| Frosted Guava | Guava × Frosted Skywalker, Zamnesia; also an autoflower version | SeedFinder3 |
| Guavalato Auto | (Guava × Frosted Skywalker Auto) × Auto Gelato, James Loud Genetics | SeedFinder3 |
| Berniehana Butter | (Jet Fuel Gelato × Guava) × (Blue Cookies × Oooze) | SeedFinder3 |
| Guava Kush | Guava × OG Kush, Garden of Green, from Flavour Chasers’ Guava | SeedFinder5,10 |
| White Hot Guava (one version) | Guava × White Fire OG, breeder unknown | Weedmaps11 |
Leafly lists Guava Runtz and Grandi Guava as children of its Guava; SeedFinder also lists Frosted Guava Auto, Strawberry Guava Auto, Yumm Yum and Guava’z among the descendants of Flavour Chasers’ Guava.1,5
Sources
- Leafly, Guava strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- AllBud, Guava marijuana strain information and reviews. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- SeedFinder, Guava (Cookie Fam Genetics): strain info. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- High Times, The High Times interview: Top Dawg Seeds (T.H. Caeczar) (2016-10-12). Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- SeedFinder, Guava (Flavour Chasers): strain info. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Weedmaps, Guava (aka Guava Burst) strain page. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Grandi Guava strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Guava Runtz strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Guava IX strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- SeedFinder, Guava (Garden of Green): strain info. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Weedmaps, White Hot Guava (aka White Guava) strain page. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Stardawg Guava strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Weedmaps, Stardawg Guava strain page. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- SeedFinder, Guava (Bean Addicts): strain info. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Guava Gelato strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Gelato (aka Gelato 42, Larry Bird, Zelato) strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Just desserts: the Cookies and Cakes family genealogy (David Downs) (2024-04-09). Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Stardawg (aka Stardog) strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Strawberry Guava strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Weedmaps, Strawberry Guava (aka Strawguava) strain page. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Weedmaps, Guava Cake strain page. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Guava Cake strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Pink Guava strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, RS11 (aka RS-11, Rainbow Sherbert #11) strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Weedmaps, Guava Ix strain page. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Guava Lava strain information. Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Cannlytics (CC BY 4.0), cannabis_results: public state lab results (filtered and aggregated by Official Cannabis). Accessed Oct 4, 2026.
- Leafly, Guava IX flower by Nature’s Heritage (product listing). Accessed Oct 4, 2026.