Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
zeylanicum Breyn., cinnamon tree; Laurus nobilis L., bay or sweet bay; and
Umbellularia californica Nutt., California bay tree.
Origin and distribution
There is general agreement that the centre of origin of the avocado is in the
eastern and central highlands of Mexico and in the adjacent highland areas
of Guatemala to the Pacifi c coast. Early European travellers during the 16th
century found avocado in cultivation and distributed throughout Central
America and northern South America. This is evidenced by the native
names given to avocado in many languages and by archaeological fi ndings.
Carbon dating indicates that Mexican avocados were used as food as early as
8000-7000 years ago (Williams, 1976). Separate human selection began
4000-2800 BC by MesoAmerican Indians, which led to three well-demarcated
ecotypes, known as Guatemalan, Mexican and West Indian (Coastal
Guatemala) (Fig 7.1). These three separate domestications are supported by
ethnobotanical and genetic marker studies (Popenoe, 1920; Ashworth and
Clegg, 2003). The races were separate until after European contact in the 16th
century (Chen et al. , 2009).
Early accounts indicate that it was not cultivated in the Caribbean
islands during the pre-Columbian period and was introduced to Jamaica by
Fig. 7.1. Possible evolutionary centres of the three cultivated avocado races
(redrawn from Scora and Bergh, 1992).
 
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