48 



COCOA 



and the arrangement of the clusters is not so clear, and 

 this for two reasons : 



(1) In the ordinary cocoa plant, the flower -cluster is not so 

 clearly a dichasium. The axes, the primary as well as the secondary, 

 tertiary, etc., are generally so short that the whole is no longer 

 to be recognised as a dichasium, and the flowers appear to arise 

 irregularly from a common axis, or from the same spot on the 

 branch or stem, close together but not even on a common axis. 

 Fig. 12 illustrates this. In A the dichasium is clearly recognisable, 



FIG. 11. Flower-cluster (dichasium) 

 of Theobroma bicolor. 



but such a distinct dichasium is rare in cocoa ; in B the axis is 

 much reduced and the dichasium is no longer clearly distinguish- 

 able, though it can still be seen that the blossoms arise from a 

 common axis ; in C this axis has wholly disappeared and the 

 flowers seem to arise separately. 1 



(2) In the ordinary cocoa plant the blossoms are formed just 

 as in T. bicolor i.e. in the axils of the leaves but generally they 

 do not develop until the leaf has fallen off. They are also formed 

 in the axils of the bud-scales (on the "ring-scars," Fig. 6). 



It may be said, then, that on the cocoa plant the 

 flowers appear in reduced dichasia from buds, developed 



1 Flower -clusters which are infected by the " witch - broom " fungus 

 (Colletotrichum luxificum) sometimes produce very nice dichasia, resembling 

 those of Tfieobroma bicolor. 



