BYTTNERIACE.E. I. THEOBROMA. 



521 



32 ERIOLJE'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 WAILI'CHIA. 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 GOETHE'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. A.). 



Tribe I. 



BYTTNERIE'^; (plants agreeing with Byttneria, in im- 

 portant characters,) D. C. prod. 1. p. 484. Byttrieriaceae verse, 

 Kunth. diss. malv. p. 6. nov. gen. et spec. amer. 5. p. 309. 



Petals 5, generally concavely arched at the base (f. 88. &.), 

 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. c.), 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. 88. c.). Seeds sometimes 

 exalbuminous, with thick cotyledons, sometimes albuminous, 

 with leafy, flat, or convolute cotyledons. 



I. THEOBRO'MA (from OEOC, theos, god, and fipufia, broma, 

 food ; celestial food. The seeds of T. cacdo 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. Monadelphia, Decdndria. Calyx of 5 sepals (f. 

 88. a.). Petals 5, arched at the base (f. 88. 6.), 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. Tj . S. Native 

 of South America at the height of 

 600 feet. Lodd. hot. cab. t. 554. 

 Cacao saliva, Lam. diet. 1. p. 553. 

 ill. t. 653. Cacao theobroma, Tuss. 

 ant. t. 13. Cacao minus, Gaert. 

 fruct. 2. p. 190. t. 122. Cat. carol. 

 8. 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. 



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 a long 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 

 umbrosa, generally two rows of Cacao for one of Erythrzna. 

 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 



