IntroductionThe avocado (Persea americana Mill.) is a evergreen tree which is native to Mesoamerica. Its natural range covers diverse environmental conditions from the central highlands of Mexico where frosts occur to the rain forests of northwest Columbia (Smith et al., 1992). The trees are evergreen and may reach heights of up to 20m. The trees are shallow rooted and have poor water uptake and hydraulic conductance. Although the trees produce an abundance of flowers, usually less than 0.1% of the flowers set fruit and most of these fruit abscise within 6 weeks from full bloom (Whiley and Schaffer, 1994). Vegetative growth is cyclical with pronounced growth flushes. There may be one to six shoot flushes per year (Thorp, 1992). Axillary branching may be proleptic, that is, a shoot develops only after a period of dormancy as a resting bud or sylleptic, where shoot growth occurs simultaneously with the parent axis with no dormant phase (Hall et al., 1978). In avocados, it is quite easy to discern between these two types of axillary branching <<<General Introduction to Avocados By Mary Lu Arpaia>>>
