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Persea schiedeana

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Coyo avocado (Persea schiedeana)
Cut chinini (Persea schiedeana) fruit showing cream-colored flesh and seed
Scientific name Persea schiedeana
Common names Coyo avocado; chinene, chinini, chinin, chinine (Mexico); chucte, sucte, coyo (Guatemala, Honduras); yas (Costa Rica); aguacate de montaña, aguacate de manteca ("butter avocado"), aguacatón, pagua; mountain avocado
Genus Persea
Family Lauraceae
Order Laurales
Native range Central and southern Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama to Colombia; wet tropical forests from near sea level to about 2,150 m
Habit Large evergreen canopy tree, usually 15–20 m and occasionally to 50 m, with stout tomentose trunks and obovate leaves 12–30 cm long
Fruit Large avocado-like berry, about 85–420 g in a four-region Mexican sample, with thick leathery pliable skin and cream to pale-brown oily flesh; pulp oil high (about 20–36% reported in Mexican studies), oleic acid dominant
Propagation Mostly by seed, often direct-sown in place; budding and grafting onto Persea rootstocks give variable long-term results
Years to fruit About 5–13 years from seed (reported survey average about 9 years; individual reports run 5 to 15+ years)

Persea schiedeana — the coyo avocado, also known as chinene, chinini or chucte across its native range — is a large evergreen tree of the laurel family Lauraceae.[1][2] Kew's Plants of the World Online and the GBIF taxonomic backbone accept the species, first published in 1836; two older names, Persea gratissima var. schiedeana and Persea pittieri, are treated as synonyms.[2] The native range runs from central and southern Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama to Colombia, where the tree grows in the wet tropical biome.[1]

The fruit resembles an avocado but is distinguished by a thick, leathery, pliable skin and cream to pale-brown flesh that is oily rather than green.[3] Pulp oil runs high — about 20–36% across Mexican studies, with roughly 50% fat in a 2019 Palenque sample — and the oil is dominated by oleic acid, with levels in wild Veracruz fruit comparable to those of extra-virgin olive oil and of 'Hass' avocado.[4][5][6][7] The tree is a classic shade-tree companion of coffee plantations in Mexico and Central America, yet no commercial fruit orchards of the species exist in the region.[4][5]

Description[edit | edit source]

The tree is usually 15–20 m tall, occasionally to 50 m, with a stout, tomentose trunk; the obovate leaves are 12–30 cm long, the panicles 10–12 cm long, and the perianths greenish-yellow, 6–8 mm, following the Flora of Guatemala description quoted in a 1949 California Avocado Society report.[3] Wild central Veracruz trees of about 30 years measured 20–25 m.[5] Young parts, buds and flower systems are conspicuously pubescent, flower buds are terminal and very large, and stems are thick with short internodes.[8]

The fruit is like an avocado's, with thick, leathery, pliable skin that peels readily and flesh that is brownish-white to pale brown, oily, with some coarse fibers, and exudes a milky juice when cut.[3][8] The cotyledons are rose-pink and the seed is large relative to an avocado's and more perishable.[3][8] Fruit shape varies widely among trees — long-necked, small pyriform, or almost round — and brown-skinned fruit has been collected in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, against the usual green or yellow types.[9] Measured size varies just as much: among 176 fruits sampled in four Mexican regions in 2019, whole-fruit weight averaged 417.5 ± 69.7 g at Palenque and pulp averaged as little as 85 g in the Sierra Nororiental, with an average seed of 135.1 ± 33.5 g in the Chontalpa; the three trees sampled for the 2017 oil study carried fruit of 190–267 g.[6][5] Hawaii growers likewise report a larger seed than most avocado seeds, which shrinks the pulp proportion.[10]

The species is listed as Endangered (criterion A2c) on the IUCN Red List — an assessment from 2021 recorded by Kew — while a 2024 extinction-risk model published through Kew instead predicts the species is not threatened.[11][12]

Cultivation[edit | edit source]

The species belongs to the wet tropics. Plants of the World Online places it in the wet tropical biome; the Flora of Guatemala records moist or wet mixed forest, often in open fields and pastures, at 900–2,700 m; and georeferenced Mexican trees span 4 m at Nacajuca, Tabasco, to 2,147 m in the Chinantla of Oaxaca, with productive stands concentrated in the mountains of central Veracruz and northern Oaxaca under semiwarm temperate-humid and warm-humid climates.[1][3][5] Across Veracruz, Puebla and Oaxaca, and in Guatemala, the tree is grown as shade in coffee plantations and, less often, in cacao farms, and the 2017 distribution study states that no commercial orchards of the species exist in Mexico or Central America.[4][5]

Soil and water[edit | edit source]

Interviewed growers in the Chinantla describe the tree as preferring moist sites, and 97% of survey responses place trees on moisture-rich, organic-matter-heavy ground in coffee groves.[4] The species tolerates wet, heavy ground that would kill most avocados: in 1947 coyo seedlings survived two weeks of flooding on heavy clay and sandy-clay soils with poor drainage, and trees near Huatusco (Veracruz) grew in waterlogged heavy clay at the bottom of a natural drainage basin.[3][13] The root system suits such sites: seedlings develop four to seven main roots that spread out below the surface rather than a long taproot — a character the 1949 report argued was favorable for avocado on heavy wet soils, and one observed again in South African rootstock material.[3][8]

Cold is the main limit outside frost-free ground. Mid-century collectors called the species not frost-resistant, and the field records fit that: a coyo in Miami survived the 1916–17 cold wave at 26 °F and lived many years, but in the mildest corner of South Florida rather than under a hardiness test.[13][3]

Sun and humidity[edit | edit source]

Native sites are humid — moist or wet mixed forest, often under partial canopy shade — and the tree is classically managed as coffee shade.[3][4] In the 2008 Chinantla survey, most growers kept trees free of competing vegetation and lianas (94%), a fifth tipped or pruned saplings to promote branching and a more dwarfed stature (22%), and 18% irrigated young trees to help them establish.[4] These are management practices reported from one survey area rather than replicated trials; light response in particular has not been isolated experimentally.[4]

Seasonal changes[edit | edit source]

The native calendar is a wet-tropical one. In the Chinantla of Oaxaca the harvest runs from late May to early August, shifting with altitude, and the fruit reaches Veracruz and Guatemala regional markets from June to September.[4][5] In central Veracruz, weekly measurements on 300 fruit from five about-20-year-old trees followed a single sigmoid growth curve, accumulating about 1,635 heat units above 6 °C from early fruit set (10 mm, mid-April) to harvest.[7] Trees carry fruit through the dry season with help: Oaxaca home-garden trees are irrigated in the dry months, a practice recorded in the 2017 study.[5] Cropping is strongly alternate: 97% of interviewed growers report biennial bearing, and only a few home-garden trees fruit every year.[4]

Propagation[edit | edit source]

Trees are traditionally raised from seed, and most are direct-sown where the tree is to grow: of the Chinantla planters surveyed in 2008, 85% had planted from seed, two-thirds of planters sowed in place, and 15% started plants in a home or nursery bed.[4] Fresh seed is the rule, since the seed is more perishable than an ordinary avocado's.[8] Seedlings are slow to bear — the surveyed growers averaged about 9 years to first fruit (roughly 5–13), growers elsewhere commonly expect 10–15+ years, and one Hawaii seedling flowered at 6 years and set its first fruit at 5; the individual spread is wide.[4][10]

Because seedling fruit quality runs from very good to poor, budded or grafted copies of selected trees are the practical route to dependable fruit. Budding onto coyo seedlings worked well in the 1947–49 Honduran nursery trial: 88% of 44 'Fuerte' buds and 68% of 47 'Rodiles No. 1' buds had taken by January 1949, and the coyo seedlings proved easier to manage in the nursery, with stronger, thicker stems than any avocado race they were compared with, ready to bud earlier.[3] Long-term compatibility with avocado has differed by place and era: the same report found strong bud unions but the coyo rootstock soon grew much thicker than the scion; Honduras trials in the 1950s were unsatisfactory, with rootstock overgrowth and poor scion growth; and in a South African orchard, Fuerte on coyo grew vigorous and spreading with smooth unions, good production and no overgrowth, while Edranol grew so large that harvest became difficult.[13][9][8] Growers have also grafted chucte scions onto avocado seedlings with success, and the 2014 Oaxaca study recommends grafting elite scions onto P. schiedeana or P. americana rootstock.[10][4]

Flowering, fruiting, and harvest[edit | edit source]

Flower buds are terminal and very large on the current flush, flowers open in the spring–early-summer wet season in the native range, and in central Veracruz fruit set is already measurable in mid-April.[8][7] A Hawaii tree first flowered at about 6 years from seed.[10] The fruit is climacteric and has a short postharvest life, reported at roughly 3–5 days, so it must move quickly from tree to table.[5] It ripens soft off the tree like an avocado, and growers advise eating it as it just begins to soften, because over-ripe fruit blackens around the seed.[10] First crops are modest — one Hawaii tree set about 35 fruits in its first fruiting year, roughly half of them sold — and most trees then settle into the strong alternate-year pattern, while in the Chinantla people in season average three fruits a day.[10][4]

Fruit and uses[edit | edit source]

The fruit is eaten like an avocado. In Mexico the pulp is spread on maize tortillas; in Guatemala it is added to black bean soup; and the fruit is popular in Honduras and El Salvador, where it is called sucte or chucte.[5][7] A seedless form, 'chinene capado', is sold out of the Cuetzalan del Progreso market of Puebla.[5] In regional markets of Veracruz and Tabasco, chinene prices have sometimes exceeded those of 'Hass' avocado.[7]

Oil is the reason growers seek the fruit out. Reported oil content varies with region, year and method: a review of Mexican material cites 24.7–36% oil in pulp (against 4–7% for West Indian avocado), a summary of Los Tuxtlas (Veracruz) fruit gives 20–27%, and the 2019 Palenque sample measured 50.29 ± 2.03% fat in fresh pulp.[4][5][6] Oleic acid dominates — 64.66–76.25% in three wild Veracruz trees in the 2017 study, where the genotype effect was significant — and oleic and palmitic acid concentrations have been described as comparable to those of 'Hass' avocado; the oleic figures fall within the extra-virgin olive-oil reference range of 55–83%.[5][7] These analyses cover only a handful of trees and regions, so the oil figures are best read as provenance-specific ranges rather than a single species value.[5]

Flavor reports from individual growers span a wide range, as seedling populations would suggest: a Puna, Hawaii grower describes the taste as very good, rich and creamy, with high oil and a slight but not objectionable fiber, cream-colored pulp, and fruit best eaten just at the start of softening; a Puerto Vallarta report compares the flavor to smoked ham with cream cheese or foie gras; a Miami-area grower relays interest in a coconut flavor; and a Mexico report describes an "avo-onion" flavor. The same Hawaii thread notes variation "from very good to not so good" across trees — individual observations, not universal quality claims.[10]

Cultivars and selections[edit | edit source]

No registered cultivars of P. schiedeana for human consumption exist, and there are no commercial orchards in Mexico or Central America.[5] Selection is instead local and informal: 91% of surveyed Chinantla planters chose seed material from superior trees, and community-level "Chinene Fairs" identify exceptional trees whose fruit or seed is shared or propagated.[4] Market terms such as 'chinene capado' (seedless fruit) and regional type names such as pagua or aguacate de manteca describe fruit forms, not cultivars.[5][7]

Within the avocado industry the species is better known for rootstock breeding than for fruit. 'Martin Grande' (G755), recognized in 1977 as a probable P. schiedeana × P. americana hybrid, showed moderate resistance to Phytophthora root rot and became a foundation of later rootstock work, and UCR selections 2007 and 2008 were noted in a 1988 review for possibly significant resistance — these are avocado rootstock breeding lines, not fruit cultivars of P. schiedeana. The historical tolerance record is mixed: early glasshouse tests rated several collections susceptible, the fungus was recovered from seemingly healthy trees in Guatemala, and no selection with practical resistance had emerged by the mid-1970s.[13][8][9]

Photos[edit | edit source]

Chinini (Persea schiedeana) fruit, side view

Detail of the chinini fruit surface

Whole chinini fruits on display

Chinini fruits offered for sale in a market

Fruit diversity of Persea schiedeana (from Bost 2014)

References[edit | edit source]

Image credits[edit | edit source]

  • Aguacate chupón, chinín o chinini abierto.jpg — cut/open coyo avocado (chinini) fruit showing cream-colored pulp and seed: Koffermejia, file page, CC BY-SA 4.0 (attribution and share-alike required).
  • Aguacate chupón, chinín o chinini 03.jpg — whole chinini fruits on display: Koffermejia, file page, CC BY-SA 4.0 (attribution and share-alike required).
  • Chinini de lado.jpg — chinini (Persea schiedeana) fruit, side view: Koffermejia, file page, CC BY-SA 4.0 (attribution and share-alike required).
  • Detalle chinini.jpg — detail of the chinini fruit surface: Koffermejia, file page, CC BY-SA 4.0 (attribution and share-alike required).
  • Aguacate chupón, chinín o chinini en el mercado.jpg — chinini fruits offered for sale in a market: Koffermejia, file page, CC BY-SA 4.0 (attribution and share-alike required).
  • Persea schiedeana J bost 2014.png — fruit diversity of Persea schiedeana (Figure 2 of Bost 2014): Bost, J., file page, CC BY 3.0 (from Sustainability 2014, 6(1):99–111, doi:10.3390/su6010099; uploaded by Commons user Ruff tuff cream puff).
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