60 BOTANY AND NOMENCLATURE. 



i 



■which have fruited, it is certain that Commercial . Cacao of fine 

 quality is produced by Theobrotna pentagona, the beans of which 

 are nearly double the size of the average Trinidad bean. 



Figure 7. shows the pod of this species compared with a 

 pod of Forastero. 



Theohroma angustifolia, otherwise known as " Cacao Mono' 

 «r " Monkey Cacao" does not produce cbmmereial Cacao as the 

 beans are rank and ill flavoured. It has been introduced to 

 Trinidad, but has not yet fruited. 



The bean of Theohroma guyanensia, Willd, is said by Don 

 to be white, and good eating when fresh. He also says that the 

 seeds of T. bicolor are mixed with the seeds of the coommon 

 Cacao. 



Theohroma angustifolia were introduced to Trinidad at the 

 same time as T. bicolor, and T. pentagona and all three are now 

 well established, the two latter are now bearing (1899.) 



Specimens of " wild Cacao" growing in the Gardens, and 

 specimens sent me from Colombia belong to the Genus Herrania, 

 -a near ally of Theohroma. 



It has been recently determined that the old Dutch Cacao 

 of Ceylon is synonymous with the best and truest types of the 

 Criollo of Trinidad, as a tree sent from Ceylon recently fruited 

 in the Royal Botanic Gardens and enabled comparisons to be 

 made, when they were found to correspond in every essential 

 particular. 



One of the Pachira's P. insignis is sometimes called wild 

 "Cacao — and is known in Trinidad as " Cacao Maron." It has 

 been brought to me on more than one occasion as a " new kind" 

 of Cacao. The seeds are edible when roasted, but have no 

 resemblance to Theohroma Cacao. 



According to Aublet's illustrations the pods of Theohroma 

 guyanensis are small and oval, distinctly marked with five 

 raised ribs and the leaves are much like those of T. cacao but 

 more cordate at the base. The fruit of T. Sylvastris, from a 

 plate by the same author, is small, smooth, yet still showing the 

 five divisions of the pod by slight depressions or lines on the 

 ■outside at equal distances from each other. The leaves are 

 small and suggestive of the ordinary form borne by " Criollo." 

 The pod of T. bicolor, Humboldt, is woody in texture, hard and 

 dry, and specimens can be kept for any length of time. I 

 have a specimen, collected in 1885, in the herbarium of this 

 department, and also specimens of the leaves and flowers, and 

 these have since been supplemented by specimens grown in the 

 "Gardens. 



