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Theobroma cacao L.

Synonym                    : Cacao sativa Aubl. 

Family                        : Sterculiaceae

Local Names              : Cocco, Cacao, Cocoa Tree, Chocolate Nut tree   

Flowering and fruiting period: November – May   

Distribution: Widely cultivated in the tropics; native of Tropical America

Habitat: Cultivated

IUCN status: Data Deficient

Endemic: No

Uses: Nut edible, fruit edible, chocolate production

Key Characters: Small, evergreen trees. Leaves alternate, large, elliptic-oblong, entire, leathery. Flowers cauliflorous, small. Petals hooded at base. Staminal tube short with 5 petaloid elongate staminodes and 2 or 3 sessile anthers. Ovary sessile, 5-loculed; ovules many in each locule; stigma 5-lobed. Fruit a large woody drupe, ellipsoid-ovoid, smooth or ribbed, reddish yellow, 5-loculed each with a double row of almond-like seeds embedded in white-pinkish or brownish mucilaginous aromatic pulp.