1258 



PERSEA* gratissima. 

 The Avocado Pear. 



ENNEANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Nat. ord. Lauri.n^e^. 



PERSEA Plumier. —Flores hermaphroditi. Cahjx limbo sexpartito 

 ssepiils ingequali persisteute aut deciduo. Stamina 12, duplici serie dis- 

 posita ; interiorum tria laciniis interioribus opposita sterilia ; tria laciniis 

 exterioribus opposita fertilia basi glandiilosa, Antherce quadriloculares. 



Stigma subcapitatum. Driipa calyce persistente sexlobo sufFulta. 



Arbores, foliis alternis, viagis minusve coriaceis, integerrimis, exstipulatis ; 

 pedunculis axillarihus et terminalihus, scepius pa7iiculatis et corymbosis. — 

 Kunth. synops. 1. 453. 



P. gratissima; foliis elliptico-oblongis obtusiusculis subtiis hirto-pubes- 

 centibus glaucescentibiisque, floribus corymbosis axillaribus, calycibus 

 externe cano-tomentosis, fructu pyriformi. Kunth. 1. c. 



Laurus Persea. Jacq. obs. I. p. 37. Swartz obs. 152. Willd. sp. pi. 

 2. 480. 



Persea gratissima. Gcertn.Jil.fruct. 3. p. 222. 



Laurus? foliis oblongo-ovatis, fructu obverse ovato, pericarpio butyraceo. 

 Broione jamaic. p. 214. 



The Albecato, Abacado, or Avocado Pear. Sloane jamaic. 2. 133. t. 222. 

 /2. 



The Avocado, or, as it is often called. Alligator Pear, 

 is one of the most esteemed fruits of the West Indies. In 

 this country it is only cultivated in the stove, of which it is 

 one of the rarest species. 



Our drawing was made in the princely Garden of his 

 Grace the Duke of Northumberland, at Syon, — an esta- 

 blishment which, whether we view it with regard to the 



* The vie^o-ciix, or ^rs^c-s^, of the Greeks, was a fruit-tree brought out of 

 Ethiopia by the first inhabitants of Egypt; and is supposed to have been the 

 Cordia myxa of moderns. But why the name should have been applied to 

 an American plant, it would be difficult to explain. 



