Avocado

Avocado Temporal range: 15–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Middle Miocene – Recent
Avocado fruit and foliage, Réunion island
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Magnoliids
Order:	Laurales
Family:	Lauraceae
Genus:	Persea
Species:	P. americana
Binomial name
Persea americana Mill.
Synonyms
Laurus persea L. Persea americana var. angustifolia Miranda Persea americana var. drymifolia (Cham. & Schltdl.) S.F.Blake Persea americana var. nubigena (L.O.Williams) L.E.Kopp Persea drymifolia Cham. & Schltdl. Persea edulis Raf. Persea floccosa Mez Persea gigantea L.O.Williams Persea gratissima C.F.Gaertn. Persea gratissima var. drimyfolia (Schltdl. & Cham.) Mez Persea gratissima var. macrophylla Meisn. Persea gratissima var. oblonga Meisn. Persea gratissima var. praecox Nees Persea gratissima var. vulgaris Meisn. Persea leiogyna Blake Persea nubigena L.O.Williams Persea nubigena var. guatemalensis L.O.Williams Persea paucitriplinervia Lundell Persea persea (L.) Cockerell Persea steyermarkii C.K.Allen

The avocado (Persea americana), a tree likely originating from southcentral Mexico, is classified as a member of the flowering plant family Lauraceae. The fruit of the plant, also called an avocado (or avocado pear or alligator pear), is botanically a large berry containing a single large seed.

Commercially valuable with production increasing worldwide over 2018-26 at 10% per year, avocados are cultivated in tropical and Mediterranean climates of many countries. The fruit of domestic varieties has a buttery flesh when ripe. Depending on the variety, avocados have green, brown, purplish, or black skin when ripe, and may be pear-shaped, egg-shaped, or spherical. Commercially, the fruits are ripened after harvesting.

Avocado trees are partially self-pollinating, and are often propagated through grafting to maintain predictable fruit quality and quantity. In 2019, Mexico was the world's leading producer of avocados, supplying 32% of the global total.