BYTTNERIACE. 
32 Ertot#'na. Calyx tomentose, girded by a 5-leaved, in- 
volucel ; leaflets jagged, 3 inner ones largest, all shorter than the 
calyx. Petals unguiculate. Stamens disposed in many series, 
monadelphous, outer ones shortest, all fertile. Style solitary, 
villous, crowned by numerous aggregate, small stigmas. 
33 Wattr'cuta. Involucel small, of 3-4 leaves, distant from 
the flower. Calyx 4-parted. Petals 4, reflexed, with thick 
velvety claws. Stamens about 20, in a monadelphous conical 
tube, outer ones shortest. Ovary ovate, 8-celled. Style 1, 
crowned by 8 stigmas. Cells of capsule 1-seeded. 
34 Gorrue'a. Calyx girded by a large, bladdery, 4-5-parted 
involucel (f. 93. 6.). Petals 5, connected a little at the base (f. 
93. c.). Filaments in a long monadelphous column (f. 93. e.). 
Anthers ovate, 2-celled. Style elongated, cleft at the apex into 
8-10 stigmas (f. 93. g.). Carpels 5, coriaceous, 1-seeded (f. 
93. h.). 
Tribe I. . 
BYTTNERIE Æ (plants agreeing with Byttnéria, in im- 
portant characters,) D. C. prod. 1. p. 484.—Byttneriacee vere, 
Kunth. diss. malv. p. 6. nov. gen. et spec. amer. 5. p. 309. 
Petals 5, generally concavely arched at the base (f. 88. b.), 
expanding into a ligula at the apex (f. 88. 6.). Stamens 10- 
30 or more. Tube of stamens variously divided, with 5 or 10 
sterile segments (f. 88. ¢.), and 5-30 2-celled anthers opposite 
the petals. Styles 5 or style 5-cleft. Ovary 5-celled (f. 88. d.); 
cells usually 2, rarely many-seeded (f. §8.c.). Seeds sometimes 
exalbuminous, with thick cotyledons, sometimes albuminous, 
with leafy, flat, or convolute cotyledons. 
I. THEOBRO'MA (from beoc, theos, god, and pwpa, broma, 
food ; celestial food. The seeds of T. caco furnish the choco- 
late.) Juss. gen. 276. Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 5. p. 316. D. C. 
prod. 1. p. 484.—Cacao, Tourn. inst. t. 444. 
Lin. syst. Monadélphia, Decándria. Calyx of 5 sepals (f. 
88. a.). Petals 5, arched at the base (f. 88. b.), drawn out into 
a spatulate ligula at the apex. Urceolus of stamens furnished 
with 5 little horns, and between each there are 5 2-anthered 
filaments. Style filiform. Stigma 5-parted. Capsule 5-celled, 
without valves (f. 88. d.). Seeds embedded in a soft pulp 
(f. 88.c.). - Albumen none. Cotyledons thick, oily, wrinkled. 
Trees with large simple leaves, and with the flowers rising 
in clusters from the branches, only 1-3 of which produce fruit. 
1 T. Caca‘o (Lin. spec. 1100.) 
leaves quite entire, elliptic-oblong, 
acuminated, quite smooth; fruit 
oblong, smooth. h. S. Native 
of South America at the height of 
600 feet. Lodd. bot. cab. t. 554. 
Cacao sativa, Lam. dict. 1. p. 553. 
ill. t. 653. Cacao theobroma, Tuss. 
ant. t. 13. Cacao minus, Geert. 
fruct. 2. p. 190. t. 122. Cat. carol. 
3. t. 6. Flowers brownish, ino- 
dorous. The Mexicans call the 
beverage obtained from these nuts 
chocolalt ; hence chocolate, from 
chacot, sound, and alte or atte, 
water. Fruit large, long, smooth, 
yellow, red, or of both colours, 
about 3 inches in diameter ; rind 
fleshy, near half an inch in thick- 
VOL. I.—PART VI. 
FIG. 88. 
ak 
west 
eri 
I. THEOBROMA. . 521 
ness, flesh-coloured within; pulp whitish, the consistence of but- 
ter, separating from the rind in a state of ripeness, and adhering 
only to it by filaments, which penetrate it and reach to the seeds. 
Hence it is known when the seeds are ripe by the rattling of 
the capsule when it is shaken. The pulp has a sweet and not 
unpleasant taste, with a slight acidity; it is sucked and eaten 
raw by the natives. The seeds are large, about 25 in number 
in each capsule ; when fresh they are of'a flesh-colour: gathered 
before they are ripe, they preserve them in sugar, and thus 
they are very grateful to the palate: they quickly lose their 
power of vegetation if taken out of the capsule, but kept in 
they preserve that power for along time. The trees bear leaves, 
fruit, and flowers all the year through; but the usual seasons 
for gathering the fruit are June and December. The third year 
from seed it shows for fruit. A tree yields from two to three 
pounds of seed annually. These seeds are remarkably nourish- 
ing, and agreeable to most people, which occasions them to be 
kept in most houses in’ America as a necessary part of the pro- 
visions of the family. In this intention they are first brought to 
a pulverisable state by drying or roasting in a proper apparatus ; 
they are then ground or powdered very fine, a little arnotta, and 
sometimes orange-water, aromatic spices, and some aromatic 
perfumes added, and made into a paste, which is formed into 
cakes or rolls of one pound each; they are much charged with 
oil, but mix well with milk or water. This simple prepar- 
ation of chocolate is the most natural and the best. It is daily 
used amongst most families in the eastern part of South Ame- 
rica, where the tree is largely cultivated, and affords a nutri- 
tious food for children as well as adults. But chocolate made 
abroad cannot by law be imported into this country, conse- 
quently all chocolate consumed in Great Britain ought to be 
made here. It is composed principally of the kernel of the 
cacao as above mentioned, but the art is in very few hands ; and 
it is believed that a small portion of soap is added to most 
British chocolate, in order ‘to cause it to froth when it is dis- 
solved in hot water. The original manner of making chocolate 
by the Spaniards was to use cacao nut, maize, and raw sugar, 
as expressed from the cane, with a little arnotta added to 
give it a colour, mixed together and ground between two stones ; 
they made a kind of bread, which served them equally for solid 
food and for drink, eating it dry when hungry, and steeping it 
in hot water when thirsty. The Indians to one pound of roasted 
nut put one pound of sugar, dissolved in rose-water, and half a 
pound of flour of maize. But the Spaniards and other nations 
afterwards added a great number of other ingredients to the 
composition of chocolate ; all of which rather spoil than mend it, 
vanilla excepted. In Spain chocolate is made up in various 
ways, with almonds, pepper, arnotta, cinnamon, anise, vanilla, 
&c. which is mixed at discretion; they frequently mix their 
paste with orange water, which they think gives it a greater 
consistence and firmness. The cacao used on board of ships 
and in the West Indies, usually is nothing more than the ground 
seeds without any admixture. 
‘The trees in the island of Trinidad and the Spanish Main are 
planted in low moist savannahs under the shade of Erythrina 
umbrésa, generally two rows of Cacao for one of Erythrina. 
Those grown in the jurisdiction of Carthagena are said to excel 
those of the Caraccas, Maracayba, and Guayaquil, both as to size 
and goodness of fruit. The Magdalena cacao is said to be 
much more oily than that grown at Caraccas; to correct this 
the former is mixed with the latter. The fruit is gathered when 
ripe, after which it is opened and the seeds taken out, and left 
in the air to dry. When fully dried they are put into bags, and 
sent to the market and sold. The Cacao trees so much delight 
in water, that the ground where they are planted must be re- 
duced to a mire, and if not carefully supplied with water they 
3X 
