Appearance
Fossil evidence indicates that genus "Persea" originated in West Africa during the Paleocene, and spread to Asia, South America, Europe and North America. It is thought that the gradual drying of Africa, west Asia, and the Mediterranean from the Oligocene to the Pleistocene, and the glaciation of Europe during the Pleistocene, caused the extinction of the genus across these regions, resulting in the present distribution. Genus "Persea" disappeared from increasingly xerophytic Africa, starting with the formation of the Benguela Current. It is extinct in Africa, save for "P. indica", which survives in the cloud forests of the Canary Islands.Evolution
Fossils of "Persea indica" have been described from the fossil flora of Kızılcahamam district in Turkey, which is of early Pliocene age.References:
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