This article is about the tree and fruit. Small avocado nutrition Hass – single and halved.
It is widely cultivated for its large, fleshy fruit. The tree likely originated in the highland regions of south-central Mexico to Guatemala. The fruit of domestic varieties has smooth, buttery, golden flesh when ripe. Depending on the variety, avocados have green, brown, purplish, or black skin, and may be pear-shaped, egg-shaped, or spherical.
Commercially, the fruits are picked while immature, and ripened after harvesting. Panicles of flowers with deciduous bracts arise from new growth or the axils of leaves. The species is variable because of selection pressure by humans to produce larger, fleshier fruits with a thinner exocarp. 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.