BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS 51 



shoots generally drop their leaves, but sometimes they 

 keep them till they become the fourth-eldest shoots. 

 Sometimes, also, the blossoms appear on the third-eldest 

 shoots, but more generally on the older parts of the 

 branches and on the stem (Fig. 6). 



Healthy, vigorous trees generally begin to bear 

 blossoms when three years old, but no or only a few 

 fruits are formed at this early age. On full-grown 

 trees (ten years and older) the number of blossoms 

 produced is very great, but only \ to \ per cent or 

 one out of every 200 to 400 develop into fruits. 



Structure of the floiver. The flower of the cocoa 

 plant has five sepals, white or rosy-coloured (s in 

 Fig. 14), and five petals (p in Fig. 14). The petals 

 are of a very peculiar form, and consist of a basal, cup- 

 shaped part, to which is attached a ribbon-shaped part 

 which is spatulate at its end ; the basal part is white 

 or rosy, with two dark-carmine ridges running longi- 

 tudinally on the inside, while the ribbon-shaped part 

 is yellowish. 



The stamina (sta in Fig. 14 and Fig. 15, A) are 

 five in number, and are ranged alternately with five 

 staminodes i.e. stamina which do not produce pollen 

 (sto in Fig. 14 and Fig. 15, A). The five stamina and 

 the five staminodes are united at their base so as to 

 form a tube. The staminodes are dark-carmine coloured, 

 elongated, awl-shaped, and protrude above the petals 

 like five little tongues ; the five stamina are whitish, 

 much shorter than the staminodes and curled, so as 

 to hide the anthers in the cup-shaped part of the petals 

 (Fig. 14). 



Each stamen (Fig. 15, B) bears four anthers, a rather 

 rare occurrence among flowers ; the explanation is that 

 each stamen consisted originally of two, which now 

 grow together. It may be recalled here that of the 

 other species of Theobroma, T. bicolor and T. penta- 

 gona also have stamina with four anthers, while in the 

 case of all the rest each stamen is a concrescence of 

 three and bears six anthers. 



