38 THEOBROMA CACAO 



tagonous, pilose, 5 -celled ; style tapering, a little longer than the sta- 

 mens, dividing into 5 short branches at the summit; ovules numerous, 

 placentation axile. Fruit pendulous, solitary or two or three together, 

 large, 6 or 7 inches long, of an elongated pyriform shape, tapering 

 at the end, marked with (usually) 10 shallow furrows and blunt 

 ridges, surface more or less tubercular, at first yellow, afterwards 

 red or purple, pericarp thick, tough, inner portion harder ; 5-celled. 

 Seeds numerous and closely packed in tiers in each cell, about the 

 size of almonds, but more irregular in form from mutual pressure, 

 immersed in copious sweet buttery pulp ; seed-coats two, the outer 

 membranous, veined ; cotyledons large, thick, irregularly crumpled 

 and divided, with a process of the inner seed-coat passing into each 

 fissure, radicle conical, indistinct, endosperm wanting. 



Habitat. The chocolate tree is a native of parts of Brazil 

 and other northern portions of South America, extending also into 

 Central America as far north as Mexico. It is extensively culti- 

 vated throughout the tropics of both the new and old worlds, 

 especially in some of the West Indian Islands. Examples may be 

 seen here in the hot-houses of several botanic gardens, the tree 

 having been introduced in 1759. There are several varieties or 

 races in cultivation 



DC. Prod., i, p. 484; Triana & Planch., Fl. Nov. Granat., 

 p. 208 ; Humb., Bonpl. & Kunth, v, p. 316 ; Sloane, Jamaica, ii, 

 p. 15 ; Griesbach, Fl. W. Ind., p. 91 ; Lindl., Med. Bot., p. 138. 



Official Part and Name. OLEUM THEOBEOMJE. A concrete oil 

 obtained by expression and heat from the ground seeds (B. P.). 

 A concrete oil (Theobromte Oleum) obtained by expression and 

 heat from the ground seeds (I. P.). OLEUM THEOBEOM^E. The 

 concrete oil of the kernels of the fruit (U. S. P.). 



Production. Oil of Theobroma, or, as it is commonly termed, 

 Cacao butter, is generally obtained from the Chocolate manufac- 

 turers, who procure it by submitting the warmed seeds to pressure. 

 The kernels of cocoa seeds yield on an average about half their 

 weight of oil. 



General Description and Composition. Oil of Theobroma is 

 usually seen in the form of oblong cakes or tablets, weighing 

 about half a pound each. It is a yellowish, opaque, dry substance, 



