ABSTRACT
The pecan belongs to the nut family Juglandaceae. It originated in southern and central US and northern Mexico, where it grows wild along streams and rivers. Pecan culture extends from Georgia and Florida in the east to New Mexico and Arizona in the west. Pecan nuts were well known to the Indians for many generations, but modern cultivation of organized plantations only began in the twentieth century. Although the biochemical aspects are still unclear, it appears that each seedling germinates through the juvenile stage, which is characterized by fast vegetative growth and unfruitfulness. The stage of maturity is characterized by a different color of the new growth, baldness, horizontal and branched habit of growth, smooth bark, and inability of cuttings to take root. The pecan is a monoecious plant, meaning that the female and male flowers grow on the same tree but not within the same flower.
