Kinds

• Today, there are more than100 different kinds of avocados growing all over the world; however, there are eight main varieties (Hass, Bacon, Fuerte, Gwen, Lamb Hass, Pinkerton, Reed and Zutano). Avocados vary in size, color (which include different kinds of green and black), the skin pattern (from smooth to different grades of "bumpiness") and the different degrees of rich, nutty flavor.
  
  

Types of Avocado Cultivars

• There are three avocado cultivars: A, B and other. These types characterize when the avocado flowers open as female and male.
  
  

A Cultivars

• "A" cultivar flowers open as female on the morning of the first day and close in late morning or early afternoon, and then open as male on the afternoon of the following day. Avocado "A" cultivars include such popular varieties as Hass, Gwen, Lamb Hass, Pinkerton and Reed.
  
  

Hass Avocados

• Hass avocados are the most commonly procured and the most popular, accounting for 80 percent of avocados consumed worldwide. Hass avocados originated in California; the skin is black and bumpy when ripe.
  
  

B Cultivars

• Avocado "B" cultivars open as female in the afternoon, close in the late afternoon, and open as male the next morning. Examples of "B" cultivar avocados include Fuerte, Sharwil, Zutano, Bacon, Ettinger, Sir Prize and Walter Hole.
  
  

Other

• Other types of avocados that don't fall under the A or B type cultivars include the famous "low calorie" Spinks avocado, and the Challenge, Dickinson, Kist, Queen, Rey, Royal, Sharpless and Taft varieties.