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Persea americana Mill.

Synonym                    : Persea gratissima Gaertn.

Family                        : Lauraceae

Local Names              : Vennappazham, Avocado Pear, Soldier's Butter 

Flowering and fruiting period: March - September

Distribution: Native of Tropical America; extensively cultivated in the tropics

Habitat: Grown in homesteads

IUCN status: Data Deficient

Endemic: No

Uses: Fruits edible. A tea can be made from the leaves. An oral infusion of the leaves is used to treat dysentery. It is also used for relieving coughs, lowering blood pressure, treating liver obstructions, promoting menstrual flow. The mashed fruit pulp is a nourishing food that is considered to have aphrodisiac properties. From unripe fruit used to induce abortion. Used externally, the pulp is cooling and soothing to the skin - it is applied to suppurating wounds and to the scalp to promote hair growth. The skin of the fruit has anthelmintic properties and is used traditionally for expelling worms. A reddish-brown dye obtained from the seed is used for marking clothes.

Key Characters: Tree growing to 15 m high. Leaf buds perulate with imbricate scales. Leaves simple, alternate; lamina elliptic-ovate with entire margin. Flowers dioecious, subsessile, greenish, in compact terminal panicles; perianth tube turbinate, lobes 3+3; stamens 9; ovary superior, sessile, hairy; style slender; stigma simple. Fruit is a single seeded berry, with copious mesocarp.