Avocado is a fruit, native to Central America and Mexico. It grows to an average height of 65 ft or 20 m and has alternately arranged leaves, which are evergreen. The avocado fruit is a pear shaped berry that grows around 7 to 20 cm long and weighs around 100-1000 g. The avocado fruit bears a large central seed that is approximately 3 to 5 cm in diameter, out of which a new avocado plant can be grown.

Although an avocado plant can be grown from the seed, nevertheless, due to long growth periods and the problems associated with self-pollination, commercial avocado plant growers use seedling plants or grafted trees and rootstocks. Rootstocks are grown out of seeds or from cloned rootstocks. Cloned rootstocks are good for problematic soil conditions like poor soil aeration and soil infested with Phytophthora root rot.