According to the blog for UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
The avocado exhibits a type of flowering behavior known as “synchronous dichogamy.” An individual flower will open for two days and the timing of the male and female phases is distinct. There are two flowering types, referred to as “A” and “B” flower types. “A” varieties open as female on the morning of the first day. The flower closes in late morning or early afternoon. The flower will remain closed until the afternoon of the second day when it opens as male. “B” varieties open as female on the afternoon of the first day, close in late afternoon and re-open in the male phase the following morning.
Even though the behavior of the flowers discourages self-pollination, an avocado plant can still pollinate itself.
- Sometimes there is a small window of overlap while the flowers are switching from male to female.
- A gardener can hand pollinate the flowers by storing flowers or pollen.
For many plants, the offspring grown from seeds are not identical to the parent plant.
In the case where a type A avocado tree self-pollinates, are the offspring grown from its seeds going to be only type A, or can they be type B also?
