PERSEA AMERICANA Mill.

AVOCADO

Laurus persea Linn.

Persea gratissima Gaertn.

Local names: Abukado (Tag.); avocado (Engl.); alligator pear (Engl.).

Avocado is an introduced species, which is now extensively cultivated in

the Philippines for its edible fruit. It was introduced from tropical America before
the end of the sixteenth century.

Avocado is a medium sized tree reaching a height of 10 meters. The

leaves are alternate, oblong to oval or obovate, and about 20 centimeters long.
The flowers are small and borne in naked, panicled, hairy cymes. The perianth-
segments are 4 to 5 millimeters long. The fruit is large, fleshy, elongated, of
various shapes but often somewhat resembling a pear, 8 to 18 centimeters long,
soft, and edible.

The fruit varies greatly in size and shape; some avocados may weigh up
to two kilos. It contains a single, large, pear-shaped seed surrounded by
abundant, soft, yellowish or yellowish-green flesh, which is highly prized. The
leaves are used as a substitute for tea.

The fruit is eaten with dressing as a salad. It makes an excellent ice-

cream and dessert. It is added to soup also at the time of serving. According to
Marañon it has a high fat content (8.13 per cent); but is deficient in calcium and
only fair in iron. Hermano says that it is good source of vitamins A and B.

Wehmer records that the leaves contain volatile oil, 0.5 per cent, with
methyl-chavicol, d-d-pinene and paraffin.

Stoneback and Calvert state that the fat content increases with the
maturity of the fruit. The total dry matter in the edible portion of the avocado is
greater than that in any other fresh fruit, the one nearest approaching it being the
banana, which contains about 25 per cent of dry matter. The avocado contains
an average of 30 per cent. The protein content, which averages 2 per cent, is
higher than that in any other fresh fruit. The percentage of carbohydrates is not
high compared with many fruits, because the avocado contains almost no sugar.
These two authorities quotes LaForge, who has found a new sugar in the
avocado, called d-Mannoketoheptose, believed to be present in varying amounts
from 0.5 to 1 per cent. They continue by affirming that the amount of mineral
matter present is much greater than that in other fresh fruits. Salts of sodium,
potassium, magnesium and calcium compose more than one-half of the ash.
This fact places the avocado among the foods, which yield an excess of the
base-forming elements, as opposed to nuts, which furnish an excess of acid-
forming elements. The chief value of the avocado as a food is due to its high
percentage of fat, averaging 20 per cent. Experiments carried on the University
of California show that the digestibility of fat from the avocado is equal to that of
butter fat, and not below that of beef fat. The caloric or energy-producing value of
the avocado is very high. One pound of the edible portion represents an average
of 1,000 calories. The maximum yield is nearly twice that of average lean meat.

According to Bruntz and Jaloux the leaves are official in the Mexican (1-4)
Pharmacopoeias; the fruit in the Mexican (1-4) and Venezuelan (1,2)
Pharmacopoeias; and the seeds in the Venezuelan (1,2) Pharmacopoeias.

Standley declares that a large number of therapeutic uses are reported for
the plant. The pulp is credited with hastening the suppuration of wounds and is
reputed to have aphrodisticiac and emmenagogue properties. The seeds contain
a milky juice, which turns red on exposure and which produces an indelible stain
on linen. An ointment of the pulverized seeds is sometimes employed as a
rubefacient, and a decoction of them, or a piece of a seed placed in the cavity of
a tooth, is believed to cure toothache. Martinez and Stanley state that the leaves
and bark are employed in domestic medicines because of the pectoral,
stomachic, emmenagogue, resolutive, and anti-periodic properties ascribed to
them. Martinez, Sayre, and Stanley report that the Mexicans use the rind as an
anthelmintic. Sayre adds that in the form of a liniment it is used in intercostal
neuralgia.