The avocado tree, whose fruit is the avocado, also known as abacado, pera-abacate, louro-abacate and louro-abacate, is a species of the Lauraceae family, with the scientific name Persea americana.
It is a large, fast-growing tree, reaching over 30 meters in height, native to Central America and Mexico. It has leathery, lanceolate, glossy leaves and small, whitish-green flowers (5 to 10 mm in diameter). The fruits are ovoid or pyriform (pear-shaped) drupes, with a dark green skin and creamy, sweet, fat-rich pulp, light green or yellowish in color, with a single large, spherical seed, 3 to 5 cm in diameter. The fruits of wild plants are small, but the cultivated varieties have fruits of considerable size (7 to 20 cm long and weighing 100 to 1000 g). This plant prefers fertile, moist soils and a mild to warm climate, so it prefers tropical or subtropical climates.