Tas. 4580. 
PERSEA GratTIssIMa. 
Avocado, or Alligator Pear. 
Nat. Ord. LaurackE#.—ENNEANDRIA Monocynta. 
Gen. Char. Hermaphrodite (pauce diclines). Perianthium profunde sexpar- 
titum, subsequale vel ineequale, magis minusve pubescens, persistens, demum ad 
basin &sque evanescens. Stamina fertilia novem triplici serie, quorum tria in- 
teriora glandulis binis globosis ad basin stipata: jilamenta filiformia, villosa ; 
anthere oblong, quadrilocellate, locellis oblongis inzequalibus, sex exteriorum 
anticis, trium interiorum retro spectantibus. Staminodia tria, capitulo distincto 
cordato-triangulari. Stigma discoideo-dilatatum. Bacca pedicello magis minusve. 
incrassato subcarnoso perianthio non mutato coriaceo aut chartaceo patente 
coronato insidens, eoque denique destructo pedicellam omnino nudum coronans. 
—Inflorescentia paniculata aut thyrsoidea, in quibusdam depauperata et paucifiora, 
e squamarum gemme axillaris aut terminalis fugacium azillis, ramulis subumbelli- 
Jloris minute bracteolatis. 
PERSEA gratissima ; foliis ovato-oblongis obovatisve utrinque acutiusculis subtus 
reticulatis pubescentibus novemcostatis glaucis, perianthii laciniis subeequa- 
libus oblongis, ovario glabriusculo, bacca pyriformi grandi. Nees. 
PERsEa gratissima, Gertn. de Fruct.v. 3. p. 222. Spreng. Syst. Veget.v. 2. p. 268. 
Nees. Laurin. p.128. Lindl. Bot. Reg. t.1258. 
Laurus Persea. Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 529. Willd. Sp. Pl. v. 2. p. 480. Dict. Sc." 
Nat.v. 25. p. 342, cum ic. Tussac, Fl. des Antilles, v. 2. p. 14. t. 8. 
Prunifera arbor fructu maximo pyriformi, Sloane, Jam. v. 2. p. 182. t. 222.f. 2. 
The “ Avocado,” or “ Alligator Pear,” yields a fruit never, 
that I am aware, known to be produced in Europe; nor am I 
aware that it has ever flowered in our stoyes save at Syon and 
Kew. In the West Indies it is highly valued, and cultivated, 
and in tropical America generally. It is presumed to be an 
aboriginal of these couiftries ; though some say imported to the 
islands from the South American continent. Why called A//igator 
Pear is not very evident. Perhaps the first word is a corruption 
of Aguacate, one of the names by which, according to Ulloa, it is 
known in Lima. The fruit is pear-shaped, yellow or brownish- 
green, often tinged with deep purple. Between the skin and 
the hard seed is a pale butyraceous substance, interspersed with 
greenish veins, and this is much eaten by all classes of people ; 
MAY Ist, 1851, 
