THEOBROMA CACAO 55 



Abroma fastuosa, R. Br. (A. angulata, Lam.; A. communis, 

 Blanco ; A. augusta, L.) 



NOM. VULG. Anibog, Tag.; Anabo, Vis.; Perennial Indian 

 Hemp, Eng. 



USES. The root bark is used in India as an emmenagogue 

 in the congestive and neuralgic forms of amenorrhoea. It seems 

 to act as a uterine tonic. The dose is 2 grams of the juice of 

 the fresh root mixed with pepper which also acts as a carmina- 

 tive and stomachic. 



BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION. A shrub 3-4 meters high with 

 hairy branches. Leaves opposite, oval, oblong, serrate, tomen- 

 tose. Flowers purple, solitary, terminal. Calyx, 5 sepals. 

 Corolla, 5 petals. Stamens 5, united in the form of a tube. 

 Ovary sessile, with 5 many-ovuled compartments. Styles 5, 

 united in the form of a tube which divides into 5 stigma-bearing 

 branches. Capsule membranous, 5-angled, truncate, dehiscent 

 at apex. Seeds albuminous, covered with filaments of cotton. 



HABITAT. San Mateo, La Laguna, Batangas, Iloilo. 



Theobroma Cacao, L. 



NOM. VULG. Cacao. 



USES. The roasted bean ground with sugar constitutes 

 chocolate, one of the most generally used foods of the Philip- 

 pines. 



It is very nutritious by virtue of the fat and sugar it con- 

 tains, but all stomachs do not bear it well and its use is the 

 unsuspected cause of much dyspepsia. The custom of drink- 

 ing it very hot and following with a large quantity of cold 

 water is a very common cause of dilatation of the stomach 

 in the Philippines. The seed of the cacao contains several 

 substances : cacao butter, albumin, theobromine, starch, glucose, 

 gum, tartaric acid, free or combined, tannin, and mineral sub- 

 stances. Of these the butter and theobromine are the most im- 

 portant. 



