Tree may be erect, usually to 30 ft. but sometimes to 60 ft or more, with a trunk 12 to 24 in (30-60 cm) in diameter. The leaves are alternate, dark-green and glossy on the upper surface, whitish on the underside; variable in shape (lanceolate, elliptic, oval, ovate or obovate), 3 to 16 in (7.5-40 cm) long. The fruit, pear-shaped, often more or less necked, oval, or nearly round, may be 3 to 13 in (7.5-33 cm) long and up to 6 in (15 cm) wide. The single seed is oblate, round, conical or ovoid, 2 to 2 1\2 in (5-6.4 cm) long, hard and heavy, ivory in color but enclosed in two brown, thin, papery seedcoats often adhering to the flesh cavity.

Antibiotic (fruit skin); stomachic (leaves)

Persea americana
Avocado
PIER

Alanine, alpha-carotene, alpha-tocopherol, arginine, ascorbic acid, aspartic acid, beta-carotene, biotin, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, cryptoxanthin, cystine, dopamine, folacin, glutamic acid, glycerol, glycine, histidine, linoleic acid, lutein, lysine, methionine, niacin, oleic acid, p-coumaric acid, palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, phenylalanine, riboflavin, serotonin, stearic acid, tartaric acid, thiamin, tryptophan, tyramine (fruit); anethole (bark); beta-sitosterol, methyl-chavicol, pinene, quercetin, tannin (leaf).

For dysentery (fruit skin); as a remedy for pyorrhea, on wounds, to relieve neuralgia, for diarrhea, sore throat and hemorrhage (leaves); to cure dandruff (seed powder); relieve toothache (seed); on skin eruptions (oil from seed)