192 MALVACEJE LINEACEJE OLEACE^E DIAGRAMS 15, 14. 



Another plant closely allied to the family Malvaceae is that 

 which produces chocolate. The cacao is a tree which 

 grows to the height of thirty or forty feet, and bears 

 red flowers. It only grows in tropical America' 

 Its fruit is about four inches long, and resembles a 

 cucumber, but the outside is as hard as wood. Each 

 contains twenty or thirty seeds as large as almonds. 

 Chocolate is only a mixture of sugar, spices, and cacao 

 beans roasted and ground. These, like coffee beans, 

 only acquire their flavour when roasted. Cocoa is 

 Cacao od a ^ so P re P are( * ^ rom ^ e cacao beans. 



FAMILY % LINEAGES. DIAGRAM 15. 



This small family only contains one plant, but one of the greatest 

 importance, thejfe. It is very pretty, and would be grown for 

 ornament if it were not also a valuable textile plant. The corolla 

 is of a beautiful cserulean blue, and has five petals ; there are ten 

 stamens, only five of which are provided with pollen sacs. Flax 

 is converted into linen in exactly the same manner as hemp. It 

 is pulled up, steeped, broken and combed, to get rid of what cannot 

 be spun. The residue forms a very fine tow, much finer and more 

 compact than that of hemp, and from which muslins and linens of 

 the finest quality are manufactured. 



FAMILY OLEACE.E.-DIAGRAM 14. 



The family Oleacese also contains only one plant of real import- 

 ance, the olive. Its flowers are not remarkable. Its foliage is dark, 

 and composed of small, stiff, scattered leaves. The fruit is fleshy 



