6i2 A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY. 



Sida retusa, and Xapcpa Iccvis, all cultivated more or less in tropical 

 countries. 



d. FAMILY BOAIBACE^.— This is a group of tropical 

 trees yielding a variety of useful products. A gum is obtained 

 from Bomhax malaharicum, and mucilage is contained in the genus 

 Ochroma and several species of Bombax. The root of Bomhax 

 jualabarictim contains tannin in addition. The bast fibers of a 

 number of the plants of this family are used like cotton in making 

 fabrics, as species of Bombax, Chorisia and Adansonia. The 

 fruits of several of the Bombaceae contain tartaric acid, as the 

 Sour Cucumber tree or Cream-of-tartar tree (Adansonia Greg- 

 orii) of Northern Australia ; and the Monkey-bread tree or 

 Baobab {Adansonia digitata) of India and South America, which 

 attains a diameter of 9 M. The green fruit of Matisia cordata 

 of the Andes region is edible. The seeds of Bomhax insigne and 

 Matisia Castaho of South America yield a product on roasting 

 which is used like cacao bean. The seeds of Cavanillesia umbel- 

 lata of Peru are edible and contain a considerable quantity of 

 fixed oil. 



e, STERCULIACE^ OR COLA FAMILY.— The plants 

 are herbs, shrubs or trees, sometimes lianes, with mostly simple, 

 petiolate, alternate leaves ; the flowers are small and form a 

 rather complex inflorescence. 



Theohroma Cacao is a small tree 5 to 10 M. high, with cori- 

 aceous, glaucous, entire leaves, and clusters of brownish 5-mer- 

 ous flowers arising from the older branches or stem ; the fruit is 

 large, fleshy, ovoid, lo-furrowed longitudinally, yellow or reddish, 

 and contains five rows of seeds, 10 or 12 in each row (Fig. 336). 

 The seeds are ovoid, somewhat flattened, and with large, convo- 

 luted cotyledons which break up into more or less angular frag- 

 ments on drying. The seeds contain 35 to 50 per cent, of a fixed 

 oil known as Cacao butter and official as Oleum Theobromatis ; 

 15 per cent, of starch; 15 per cent, of proteins; i to 4 per cent, 

 of theobromine; 0.07 to 0.36 per cent, of caflfeine, about 0.5 per 

 cent, of sugar, and also a small amount of tannin. The red color 

 of the seed is due to a principle known as cacao-red which is 

 formed by the action of a ferment on a glucoside. 



The Cacao tree is indigenous to the countries bordering the 

 Gulf of Mexico and is now cultivated in many tropical countries. 



