COOK—HABITS OF CACAO AND PATASHTE. 623 
habit is assumed, the lateral branches grow longer, and the uprights 
are more numerous and divergent. But any tree with these habits 
of growth would probably be short-lived, for the constant succession 
of dead branches invites fungous diseases and insect pests. 
LATERAL BRANCHES CONSIDERED AS INFLORESCENCES. 
The positions and functions of the inflorescences need to be taken 
into account in dealing with problems of the origin or nature of the 
dimorphic branches. In other plants that have specialized lateral 
branches, such as Gossypium, Coffea, and Castilla, it seems not 
unreasonable to look upon these branches as inflorescences that are 
being made to serve vegetative functions in addition to bearing the 
flowers. The form of the inflorescence, as determined by its method 
of branching, is closely analogous to that of the lateral branch. It 
might be easier, from a morphological standpomt, to think of the 
leaves of the lateral branches as representing large floral bracts than 
as direct specializations from the form of leaves produced by the 
upright shoots. 
In the case of cacao it seems rather difficult to apply this theory, 
since it involves the assumption that the cacao tree, or its ancestors, 
after developing the lateral branches as inflorescences in the manner 
of patashte, at a later stage of development transferred the flowers to 
the trunk and other parts of the old wood. This would amount to 
saying that the cacao tree had removed the flowers from the inflores- 
cences, so that only vegetative purposes are now served by the parts 
of the tree that were specialized originally for the production of the 
flowers and fruits in the manner still shown in the patashte. If this 
view of the caulocarpous habit be adopted, the cacao tree must be 
taken to represent a more advanced stage of evolution than the 
patashte. 
The fact that the lateral branches of cacao have become more 
similar to the uprights, both in function and in form of leaves, than 
those of patashte, could be taken as another indication of more 
advanced evolution, since it would seem to represent a greater 
departure from a condition in which the lateral branches functioned 
as inflorescences. It is quite possible that the nature and extent of 
the specializations will be found to differ in the other species and 
varieties of Theobroma, and that these differences will prove useful 
in classification as well as in the solution of cultural problems. The 
differences between cacao and patashte that have been considered 
in the present paper are summarized in the following contrasted 
descriptions of the genera Theobroma and Tribroma. 
