Avocado (redirected from Persea Americana)

avocado (ä`vəkä`do, ăv`–), tropical American broad-leaved evergreen tree of the genus Persea of the family Lauraceae (laurel family). The fruit, called avocado, alligator pear, or, in Spanish, aguacate, has a high oil content. It is eaten fresh, chiefly in salads and guacamole. The avocado was cultivated by the Aztecs. Avocados are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Magnoliales, family Lauraceae.

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avocado

Avocado (Persea americana).

(credit: S.A. Scibor—Shostal)

Fruit of Persea americana, of the laurel family, a tree native to the Western Hemisphere from Mexico south to the Andean regions. Avocados are extremely variable in shape, size, and colour (green to dark purple). The outer skin may be thin, or coarse and woody. The greenish or yellowish flesh has a buttery consistency and a rich, nutty flavour. In some varieties the flesh contains as much as 25% unsaturated oil. Avocados are the principal ingredient of the Mexican sauce guacamole. They provide thiamine, riboflavin, and vitamin A.

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avocado

1. a pear-shaped fruit having a leathery green or blackish skin, a large stony seed, and a greenish-yellow edible pulp

2. the tropical American lauraceous tree, Persea americana, that bears this fruit

3. a dull greenish colour resembling that of the fruit

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avocado [‚av·ə′käd·ō]

(botany)

Persea americana.A subtropical evergreen tree of the order Magnoliales that bears a pulpy pear-shaped edible fruit.

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Avocado 

or alligator pear (Persea), a genus of evergreen fruit-bearing plants of the laurel family. Avocado trees grow to 10–20 m high and have monoecious, almost white blossoms that form paniculate racemes. Their fruits are large dark green or almost black monospermous drupes (length 5–20 cm, weight 250–600 g) that come in several shapes. There are about ten species of avocado (more than 20 according to some sources). The Persea armeniaca is widely cultivated.

The avocado grows best on fertile, well-drained, neutral or slightly acidic soil; avocado plantings must be protected from winds. The industrial cultivation of avocados is developed in many tropical and subtropical regions of the world, most widely in the USA (California, Florida, and Hawaii) and Brazil. In the USSR there are experimental avocado plantings on the Black Sea coast of the Georgian SSR (Meksikola and Chernaia ptitsa strains).

The avocado yields a harvest of 150–200 kg of fruit per tree. Its fruit contains up to 30 percent fat and 1.6–2.1 percent protein; vitamins B_1, B_2, C, and D, and others; and almost no carbohydrates. The avocado, which is similar in taste to the walnut, is eaten raw, in salads, and in sandwiches. Its cultivation is similar to that of citrus fruit.

REFERENCE

Gutiev,G. T. Subtropicheskie plodovye rasteniia. Moscow, 1958.

A. I. KOLESNIKOV