Avocado

The avocado, alligator pear or avocado pear (Persea americana) is an evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas, with archaeological evidence of early human avocado use dating back thousands of years across various regions of Central and South America.^[3] It was prized for its large and unusually oily fruit.^[4][5][6][7] The native range of avocado (Persea americana) extends from Mexico to Peru, encompassing much of Central America and parts of northern and western South America.^[8]

Its fruit, sometimes also referred to as an alligator pear or avocado pear, is botanically a large berry containing a single large seed.^[9] Sequencing of its genome showed that the evolution of avocados was shaped by polyploidy events and that commercial varieties have a hybrid origin.^[10] Avocado trees are partly self-pollinating, and are often propagated through grafting to maintain consistent fruit output.^[11] Avocados are presently cultivated in the tropical and Mediterranean climates of many countries.^[5] As of 2023, Mexico is the world's leading producer of avocados, supplying 29% of the global harvest of 10.5 million tonnes.^[12]

The fruit of domestic varieties have smooth, buttery, golden-green flesh when ripe. Depending on the cultivar, avocados have green, brown, purplish, or black skin, and may be pear-shaped, egg-shaped, or spherical. For commercial purposes, the fruits are picked while unripe and ripened after harvesting. The nutrient density and high fat content of avocado flesh are advantages for various cuisines, including vegetarian diets.^[13]

In major production regions like Chile, Mexico and California, the water demands of avocado farms place strain on local resources.^[14] Avocado production is implicated in other externalities, including deforestation and human rights concerns associated with the partial control of their production in Mexico by organized crime.^{[15][16][17][18]} Global warming is expected to result in significant changes to the suitable growing zones for avocados, and place additional pressures on the locales in which they are produced due to heat waves and drought.^[19][20]