40 BULLETIN 143, XJ. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



THE FRUIT. 



A good coyo (PI. XIII) strongly resembles in appearance a 

 medium-sized avocado of the West Indian race, such as many of those 

 grown in Florida and Cuba. The color of the flesh, however, easily 

 distinguishes it from all avocados. 



In form most of the coyos are slender and bottle necked, with a 

 slender neck, sometimes 3 inches long. The best varieties are broadly 

 pyriform, somewhat like the Pollock avocado in shape. A few obo- 

 void varieties were seen, but no round ones. Irregularly shaped and 

 deformed fruits are much more common than they are in the avocado. 



The size varies from about 6 ounces to more than 2 pounds. In 

 the Vera Paz the commonest size is 6 to 10 ounces. The best varieties 

 in this region weigh 16 to 20 ounces. At El Eancho one variety was 

 seen which weighed about 2 pounds. The 16 to 20 ounce fruits seem 

 to be the most desirable. 



Most coyos are light green in color when ripe, with numerous large 

 yellowish green dots. Sometimes a bronze-colored fruit is seen, or 

 a deep brown one. The deep-purple color found in the avocado has 

 not been observed in the coyo. 



The skin is thick, but soft and pliable, resembling in texture the 

 skin of the West Indian avocados, but approaching in thickness the 

 thickest skinned varieties of the Guatemalan race. At the proper 

 stage of ripeness the skin peels readily from the flesh. 



The surface, like the texture of the flesh, is similar to that of the 

 West Indian avocados. It is commonly slightly undulating, but 

 never warty or very rough. 



The color of the flesh, as has already been noted, is distinct from 

 that of all avocados. It varies from brownish white to pale brown. 

 In the best varieties it is brownish white and free from fiber, but in 

 90 per cent of the coyos seen in the Vera Paz there are coarse, tough 

 fibers running through the flesh from the stem end of the fruit to the 

 base of the seed. When squeezed, a milky juice exudes from the flesh. 

 The latter is commonly of about the same texture as the flesh of a 

 good avocado. It is coarser in many of the inferior varieties. 



In flavor the coyo is quite distinct from all avocados at present 

 known in the United States. It has a peculiar and very agreeable 

 richness, similar to that of the avocado, but is characterized by a 

 well-marked flavor of ripe coconut. Good coyos are exceedingly 

 rich in flavor and for this reason are referred by many Indians, as 

 well as some of the American and European coffee planters of Alta 

 Vera Paz, to the best avocados. The coyo is eaten in the same way 

 as the avocado. 



The quality of 90 per cent of the coyos seen in Guatemala is poor, 

 owing to the unattractive color of the flesh and the presence of ob- 



