Avacado

Flower
Panicles of flowers with deciduous bracts arise from new growth or the axils of leaves. The tree
flowers thousands of blossoms every year. Avocado blossoms sprout from racemes near the leaf
axils; they are small and inconspicuous 5–10 mm (3⁄16–3⁄8 in) wide. They have no petals but instead 2
whorls of 3 pale-green or greenish-yellow downy perianth lobes, each blossom has 9 stamens with 2
basal orange nectar glands.[18][4]
Fruit
The avocado fruit is a climacteric,[19] single-seeded berry, due to the imperceptible endocarp
covering the seed,[7][20] rather than a drupe.[21] The pear-shaped fruit is usually 7–20 cm (3–8 in)
long, weighs between 100 and 1,000 g (3+1⁄2 and 35+1⁄2 oz), and has a large central seed, 5–6.4 cm
(2–2+1⁄2 in) long.[4]
The species produces various cultivars with larger, fleshier fruits with a thinner exocarp because of
selective breeeding by humans.[22]
History
Persea americana, or the avocado, possibly originated in the Tehuacan Valley[23] in the state of
Puebla, Mexico,[24] although fossil evidence suggests similar species were much more widespread
millions of years ago. However, there is evidence for three possible separate domestications of the
avocado, resulting in the currently recognized Mexican (aoacatl), Guatemalan (quilaoacatl), and
West Indian (tlacacolaocatl) landraces.[25][26] The Mexican and Guatemalan landraces originated in
the highlands of those countries, while the West Indian landrace is a lowland variety that ranges
from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador to Peru,[25] achieving a wide range through human
agency before the arrival of the Europeans.[26] The three separate landraces were most likely to
have already intermingled[a] in pre-Columbian America and were described in the Florentine Codex.
[26]
The earliest residents of northern coastal Peru were living in temporary camps in an ancient wetland
and eating avocados, along with chilies, mollusks, sharks, birds, and sea lions.[27] The oldest
discovery of an avocado pit comes from Coxcatlan Cave, dating from around 9,000 to 10,000 years
ago.[23][26] Other caves in the Tehuacan Valley from around the same time period also show early
evidence for the presence and consumption of avocado.[23] There is evidence for avocado use at
Norte Chico civilization sites in Peru by at least 3,200 years ago and at Caballo Muerto in Peru from
around 3,800 to 4,500 years ago.[23]
Native Oaxaca criollo avocados, the ancestral form of today's domesticated varieties
The native, undomesticated variety is known as a criollo, and is small, with dark black skin, and
contains a large seed.[28] It probably coevolved with extinct megafauna.[29] In 1982, evolutionary
biologist Daniel H. Janzen concluded that the avocado is an example of an "evolutionary
anachronism", a fruit adapted for ecological relationship with now-extinct large mammals (such as
giant ground sloths or gomphotheres).[30][31] Most large fleshy fruits serve the function of seed
dispersal, accomplished by their consumption by large animals. There are some reasons to think that
the fruit, with its mildly toxic pit, may have coevolved with Pleistocene megafauna to be swallowed
whole and excreted in their dung, ready to sprout. No extant native animal is large enough to
effectively disperse avocado seeds in this fashion.[32][33]
The avocado tree also has a long history of cultivation in Central and South America, likely beginning
as early as 5,000 BC.[24] A water jar shaped like an avocado, dating to AD 900, was discovered in the
pre-Incan city of Chan Chan.[34]
The earliest known written account of the avocado in Europe is that of Martín Fernández de Enciso
(circa 1470–1528) in 1519 in his book, Suma De Geographia Que Trata De Todas Las Partidas Y
Provincias Del Mundo.[35][36] The first detailed account that unequivocally describes the avocado
was given by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés in his work Sumario de la natural historia de las
Indias [es] in 1526.[25] The first written record in English of the use of the word 'avocado' was by
Hans Sloane, who coined the term,[25] in a 1696 index of Jamaican plants. The plant was introduced
to Spain in 1601, Indonesia around 1750, Mauritius in 1780, Brazil in 1809, the United States
mainland in 1825, South Africa and Australia in the late 19th century, and the Ottoman Empire in
1908.[26] In the United States, the avocado was introduced to Florida and Hawaii in 1833 and in
California in 1856.[26]
Before 1915, the avocado was commonly referred to in California as ahuacate and in Florida as
alligator pear. In 1915, the California Avocado Association introduced the then-innovative term
avocado to refer to the plant.[26]
Etymology
The word avocado comes from the Spanish aguacate, which derives from the Nahuatl (Mexican)
word āhuacatl [aːˈwakat͡ɬ],[37] which goes back to the proto-Aztecan *pa:wa.[38] In Molina's
Nahuatl dictionary "auacatl" is given also as the translation for compañón "testicle", and this has
been taken up in popular culture where a frequent claim is that testicle was the word's original
meaning. This is not the case, as the original meaning can be reconstructed rather as "avocado" –
rather the word seems to have been used in Nahuatl as a euphemism for "testicle".[39][40][41]
The modern English name comes from a rendering of the Spanish aguacate as avogato. The earliest
known written use in English is attested from 1697 as avogato pear, later avocado pear (due to its
shape), a term sometimes corrupted to alligator pear.[42][43][4]
Regional names
In Central American, Caribbean Spanish-speaking countries, and Spain[44] it is known by the

Mexican Spanish name aguacate, while South American Spanish-speaking countries Argentina, Chile,
Perú and Uruguay use a Quechua-derived word, palta.[45] In Portuguese, it is abacate. The Nahuatl
āhuacatl can be compounded with other words, as in ahuacamolli, meaning avocado soup or sauce,
from which the Spanish word guacamole derives.[46]
In the United Kingdom the term avocado pear, applied when avocados first became commonly
available in the 1960s, is sometimes used.[47]
Originating as a diminutive in Australian English, a clipped form, avo, has since become a common
colloquialism in South Africa and the United Kingdom.[citation needed]
It is known as "butter fruit" in parts of India[48] and Hong Kong.[49]
Cultivation

Avacado

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Avacado

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Avacado

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Flower

In Central American, Caribbean Spanish-speaking countries, and Spain[44] it is known by the

It is known as "butter fruit" in parts of India[48] and Hong Kong.[49]

You might also like