•
Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder lists Persea americana as winter hardy to USDA zones 10-12, grown in rich, loose, evenly moist, well-drained soils in full sun; it tolerates light shade but is intolerant of frost.
•
Native range is Central America and Mexico per Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder; the National Tropical Botanical Garden Tropical Plants Database describes it as native to the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America. Roughly 95% of the U.S. commercial crop is grown in southern California, predominantly the Hass variety (Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder).
•
Not a North American native and frost-tender (zones 10-12 only); outside those zones it is grown as an indoor plant from a sprouted pit and rarely fruits. No Plotwright Heat Tier is assigned — the published source frames hardiness as a frost-free minimum rather than a heat-tier range.