Editing Avocado (section)

== Description ==
''Persea americana'' is a tree that grows to {{convert|9|-|20|m|ft|abbr=on}} with a trunk diameter between {{convert|0.3|-|0.6|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}. The leaves are {{convert|8|-|25|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} long and alternately arranged.<ref name="Nandwani2014">{{cite book|author=Dilip Nandwani |year=2014 |title=Sustainable Horticultural Systems: Issues, Technology and Innovation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jurSBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-06904-3 |pages=176–}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Avocado General Information |url=http://www.extento.hawaii.edu/kbase/crop/crops/i_avocad.htm |access-date=2023-03-21 |website=www.extento.hawaii.edu}}</ref>

=== 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 {{convert|5|-|10|mm|in|frac=16|abbr=on}} wide. They have no petals but instead two whorls of three pale-green or greenish-yellow downy [[perianth]] lobes, each blossom has 9 stamens with 2 basal orange nectar glands.<ref name="Nandwani2014"/><ref name=morton/>

=== Fruit ===
[[File:Flower of Avocado 2.jpg|thumb|Avocado flower]]
[[File:Pollen grains of avocado plant.jpg|thumb|Pollen grains of avocado]]

The avocado fruit is a [[Climacteric (botany)|climacteric]],<ref name="Yahia2011">{{cite book|author=Elhadi M. Yahia|title=Postharvest Biology and Technology of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits: Açai to Citrus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oO51AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA125|year=2011|publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=978-0-85709-276-2|pages=125–}}</ref> single-seeded [[berry (botany)|berry]], due to the imperceptible [[endocarp]] covering the seed,<ref name=storey/><ref name="whiley">{{cite book|author=A. W. Whiley |author2=B. Schaffer |author3=B. N. Wolstenholme |title=The Avocado: Botany, Production, and Uses |date=2002 |publisher=CABI |isbn=978-0851999784 |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CxmvpAYkL54C&pg=PA30}}</ref> rather than a [[drupe]].<ref name="Essig2015">{{cite book|author=Frederick B. Essig|title=Plant Life: A Brief History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XvhzBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA162|year= 2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-026658-5|pages=162–}}</ref> The pear-shaped fruit is usually {{convert|7|-|20|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}} long, weighs between {{convert|100|and|1000|g|oz|frac=2|abbr=on}}, and has a large central [[seed]], {{convert|5|-|6.4|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} long.<ref name=morton/> Early wild avocados prior to domestication had much smaller seeds around {{Convert|2.1-2.2|cm|in}} in diameter, likely corresponding to smaller fruit size.<ref name=":0" />

The species produces various cultivars with larger, fleshier fruits with a thinner [[exocarp]] because of [[plant breeding|selective breeding]] by humans.<ref name="Kole2011">{{cite book|author=Chittaranjan Kole|title=Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Tropical and Subtropical Fruits|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WY4zSqE8sdgC&pg=PA172|year=2011|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3-642-20447-0|pages=172–}}</ref>