A PATRIARCH OF THE AVOCADO FAMILY. 
(Persea americana Mill.) 
This avocado tree, now dying (probably of old age), stands in a 
small orchard in the Patate Valley of Ecuador. It is believed 
to have been planted by the Jesuit missionaries more than 150 
years ago. The seed may have come from Mexico, since the 
tree belongs to the weli-known Mexican race of avocados. 
(Photographed by Wilson Popenoe, near Ambato, Ecuador, 
January, 1921; P18360FS.) 
