MALVACE. 115 
in diarrhoea, dysentery, quinsy, &e. It is the seed of S. scaphigera.' 
That of §. a/ata,? another Indian species, has similar properties. 
But the most remarkable of this group are those commonly known 
by the names of Cola Nut (Noix de C.) and the Cocoa (Cacao). The 
true Cola? is the seed of a Sterculia, C. acuminata,’ often reduced 
to a large embryo more or less globose and fleshy, with three or 
four thick cotyledons, sometimes sold at a high price upon the 
western coast of tropical Africa. It is a masticatory, seeming to 
have properties similar to those commonly attributed to J/aéé, 
Coca, &e., and its flavour is at first sharp, but food, drinks, and 
even brackish or foul water, we are assured, seem to have an agree- 
able taste after eating the Cola Nut. 
The ordinary Cocoa is the seed of Zheobroma Cacao I.’ (figs. 
124-129). The pericarp’ is eut in two and set apart under the 
name of cabosse. From it the seeds are taken, surrounded by 
their fleshy pulp, which is fermented either by burying them in 
the earth’ or brewing them in wooden troughs. From the liquefied 
pulp the seeds are afterwards taken and dried upon mats: the covering 
of the seeds becomes coloured in the process of fermentation. The 
seeds contain a tannic principle, a colouring matter, an azotic 
crystallizable substance, theobromine,® and about half their weight 
of a solidifiable oil (Cocoa butter), which is separated by boiling in 
water, and variously employed as food, as an external or internal 
medicament, as a cosmetic, and even in the manufacture of soap and 

to the oblique hilum, 3 centim, or more in length, 
brownish, wrinkled, and when in contact with 
water developing an enormous quantity of mu- 
cilage, rich in bassorine, and containing also a 
greenish oil. (GUIB., op. cit., iii. 645.) 
1 Scaphium scaphigerum Scuotr & ENDL, 
Melet., 33. 
2 Roxs., Pl. Coromand., iii. t. 287.—Ptery- 
gota Roxburghii Scuorr & Enpu,, Melet., 32, 
—RosENTH., op. cit., 724 (vulg. Toola). Its. 
seeds are said to be narcotic, and are used in 
India in the same way as opium. 
3 Or Gourou, Ngourou, Café du Soudan. 
4R. Br., in Benn. Pl. Jav. Rar., 237.— 
Masr., in Oliv, F1. Trop. Afr., i. 221.—H. BN., 
in Adansonia, x. 169.—Slerculia acuminata 
Pat. Bravy., Fl. Ow. et Ben., i. 41, t. 24.— 
S. nitida Vent., Malmais., ii. 91.—S. verticil- 
lata Scuum. & Tuony., Beskr., 240.—Sipho- 
niopsis monoica KARST., Pl, Columb., 139, t. 69. 
5 See p. 82, note 6.—Mér. & DEL, Dict. 
Mat. Méd., vi. 719.—A. Ricu., Elém., éd. 4, 
ii, 252.—Linpu,, Fl. Med., 138.—PEREIRA, 
Elem. Mat. Med., ed. 5, ii. p. ii. 553.—Moag., 
Bot. Méd., 281, 405, fig. 88.—Nerrs, Pl. Med., 
t. 419.—GutB., Drog. Simpl., éd. 6, iii, 647, 
fig. 745.—MirscHERL., d. Cacao. Berl. (1859), 
—Bere. & Scam. Off. Gew., iv. t. 33, e, f— 
H. Bn., in Dict. Encycl. des Sc. Méd., xi. 364, 
6 In this species it is yellow or red according 
to the varieties; elongated, attenuated into a 
blunt point at the two extremities with five 
blunt angles, and ten longitudinal ribs, but little 
prominent in the fresh state. In their intervals 
are more or less wrinkled bands obtusely 
tuberous. 
7 Whence the name of ©, terrés, which is 
applied to the kinds called C, de la Trinité (from 
the coast of Caracas). In this case the seminal 
coats separate much more easily from the embryo. 
8 Bitter, little soluble, unchanged by the air, 
volatile above 250° (CHSAz{0*). 
12 
