[8] Sequencing of its genome showed that the evolution of avocados was shaped by polyploidy events and that commercial varieties have a hybrid origin.

The nutrient density and extremely high fat content of avocado flesh are useful to a variety of cuisines and are often eaten to enrich vegetarian diets.

[12] In major production regions like Chile, Mexico and California the water demands of avocado farms place strain on local resources.

[14][15][16][17] 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.

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.

[29] A number of authors, including Connie Barlow in her 2001 book The Ghosts of Evolution, have speculated that the avocado is an "evolutionary anachronism" with megafaunal dispersal syndrome (a concept originally proposed in the 1980s by Paul S. Martin and Daniel H. Janzen[30]), arguing that the avocado likely coevolved dispersal of its large seed by now-extinct megafauna.

[51] Originating as a diminutive in Australian English, a clipped form, avo, has since become a common colloquialism in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

[56] There is evidence for three possible separate domestications of the avocado, resulting in the currently recognized Guatemalan (quilaoacatl), Mexican (aoacatl) and West Indian (tlacacolaocatl) landraces.

[57] As a result of artificial selection, the fruit and correspondingly the seeds of cultivated avocados became considerably larger relative to their earlier wild forebears millennia before the Columbian exchange.

[25] 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.

[59] The plant was introduced to Spain in 1601, Indonesia around 1750, Mauritius in 1780, Brazil in 1809, the United States mainland in 1825, South Africa and Australia in the late 19th century, and the Ottoman Empire in 1908.

Once picked, avocados ripen in one to two weeks (depending on the cultivar) at room temperature (faster if stored with other fruits such as apples or bananas, because of the influence of ethylene gas).

[67] The use of an ethylene gas "ripening room", which is now an industry standard, was pioneered in the 1980s by farmer Gil Henry of Escondido, California, in response to footage from a hidden supermarket camera which showed shoppers repeatedly squeezing hard, unripe avocados, putting them "back in the bin", and moving on without making a purchase.

[68] In some cases, avocados can be left on the tree for several months, which is an advantage to commercial growers who seek the greatest return for their crop, but if the fruit remains unpicked for too long, it falls to the ground.

Advances in cloning techniques that can produce up to 500 new plants from a single millimetre of tree cutting have the potential to increase the availability of rootstocks.

Home gardeners can graft a branch from a fruit-bearing plant to speed maturity, which typically takes four to six years to bear fruit.

[78] The pyriform scale insect (Protopulvinaria pyriformis) is known from Australia, South Africa, Israel, Italy, France, Spain, Cuba, Florida,[79] and Peru.

[82] It is such a problem that the phrase blood guacamole has been adopted to describe the social effects in Mexico of the vast worldwide demand for its fruits.

No import tariffs are imposed on Chilean avocados by China, the United States, or the European Union due to free trade agreements.

[105] In 2018, the US Department of Agriculture estimated that 231,028 hectares (570,880 acres) in total were under cultivation for avocado production in Mexico, a 6% increase over the previous year, and that 2 million tonnes would be exported.

[106][107] Most Mexican growers produce the Hass variety due to its longer shelf life for shipping and high demand among consumers.

The avocado fruit is poisonous to some birds, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) lists it as toxic to horses.

[114] Avocado leaves contain a toxic fatty acid derivative, persin, which in sufficient quantity can cause colic in horses and without veterinary treatment, death.

[115] The symptoms include gastrointestinal irritation, vomiting, diarrhea, respiratory distress, congestion, fluid accumulation around the tissues of the heart, and even death.

[4] In 2022, a prospective cohort study following 110,487 people for 30 years found that eating two servings of avocado per week reduced the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases by 16–22%.

[121] The study involved replacing half a daily serving of saturated fat sources, including margarine, butter, egg, yogurt, cheese, or processed meats, with an equivalent amount of avocado.

In Mexico and Central America, avocados are served mixed with white rice, in soups, salads, or on the side of chicken and meat.

[citation needed] Avocados in savory dishes, often seen as exotic, are a relative novelty in Portuguese-speaking countries, such as Brazil, where the traditional preparation is mashed with sugar and lime, and eaten as a dessert or snack.

In Morocco, a similar chilled avocado and milk drink is sweetened with confectioner's sugar and flavored with a touch of orange flower water.

It is also common to serve layered multiple fruit juices in a glass (locally called Spris) made of avocados, mangoes, bananas, guavas, and papayas.