Tree of the week
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Good morning. It could be a false hint, but in my neighborhood this morning there is a hint of spring in the air. That means gardening, and trees, and Pieter Severynen’s Tree of the Week:
‘The Avocado Tree – Persea americana
‘The Nahuatl Aztecs called the fruit ‘ahuacatl’ which the Spaniards pronounced as ‘aguacate.’ First described by Martin Fernandez de Enciso in 1519, this Central American pear-shaped fruit with its high (mono-unsaturated) oil content and big seed gradually became popular around the world for its delicious nutty taste. Introduced in California in the late 19th Century, the tree found our climate and soil so much to its liking that currently 95% of the U.S. crop is grown here, mainly in San Diego County.
‘A dense evergreen tree, the avocado usually grows to 30-40’ tall and as wide, but it can easily be kept smaller through judicious pruning. It likes full sun and excellent drainage. Glossy, elliptic, dark green leaves with paler veins that show the relationship of the tree to its Laurel family relatives, the California Bay, Umbellularia californica and the Grecian Laurel, Laurus nobilis, are high in oil content and slow to decompose, so that they usually collect in a pile under the tree. Tips of living leaves are often brown due to the high dissolved salt level of our water. The branches and leaves are poisonous to many animals. The late winter – early spring-blooming tiny yellow-green flowers are bunched in clusters. An intricate system encourages cross pollination: the flowers either open and are receptive to pollen from other flowers in the morning, while releasing their own pollen the following afternoon (type A), or open and are receptive to pollen in the afternoon and shed pollen the following morning (type B). A solitary mature tree will produce over 100 avocados, but for highest yield A and B types should be planted together. The fruit can hang on the tree for 6-18 months, depending on variety.
‘Of the 500 or so known varieties only some twenty-five are grown here. They are Guatemalan, P.a. guatemalensis, or Mexican, P.a. drymifolia, or hybrid avocado tree species. The Mexican varieties are smaller, look less attractive, but are much more cold-hardy. Known varieties are grafted onto a rootstock: growing your own tree directly from seed seldom produces good results, but there are occasional winners. The seed that Rudolph Hass bought and planted in 1926 in La Habra Heights grew into the mother tree from which all the producers of the now famous black skinned ‘Hass’ avocados descended.’
Thanks, Pieter.
E-mail Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Photo Credit: dahon.blogspot