THE 



Mill. Dia. V. 4. Ait. Hort. Kew. t. 4. 408. Jiiff. 276. 

 Lamarck Illullr. t. 635. ( Cacao ; Tourn. t. 444. Gaertn. 

 t. 122.) — Clafs and order, Polyadelphia Decandrla. Nat. 

 Ord. Colummferit,\Ani\. ■ Malvacea, JufT. 



Gen. Ch. Ciil. Perianth inferior, of five ovato-lanceolatc, 

 acute, fpreading, coloured, deciduous leaves. Cor. Petals 

 live, rather longer than the calyx ; their clawB dilated, con- 

 cave, hooded, marked internally with two ribs from the bafe, 

 aiid one from the fummit : their borders roundidi-OTate, 

 pointed, fprcading, each contrafted at the bafe into a narrow, 

 ereCl and recurved flalk, connefted with the claw. Nei^ary 

 ihort, cup-fliaped, crowned with five long, ereft, awl- 

 Ihaped, pointed, equal, converging fegments. Stam. Fila- 

 ments five, thread-fliapcd, ereft, recurved at the upper part, 

 concealed in the hollow claws of the petals, inferted into the 

 outfide of the neftary between its fegments, but not above 

 half fo long ; anthers two to each filament, (one on each 

 fide, at the fummit,) vertical, two-lobed, one lobe over the 

 other. Pyi. Germen fuperior, nearly feffile, ovate, with 

 five furrows; llylc cylindrical; fligma in five awl-lhaped 

 fegments. Peru. Berry elliptic-oblong, beaked, coated, of 

 one cell. Seeds large, ovate, fmooth, numerous, in five 

 rows : their cotyledons in many deep lobes. 



EIT. Ch. Calyx of five leaves. Petals five, vaulted at the 

 bafe. Neftary cup-fliaped, with five taper points. An- 

 thers two to each filament. Stigma five-cleft. Berry 

 coated. Seeds ovate. 



Obf. Gxrtner obferves that he could find no traces of 

 the five cells attributed by authors to this fruit. It is pro- 

 bable, however, from analogy, that they may exifl in the 

 germen, and Aublet's account is fufHciently explicit of their 

 prefence in the fruit. The drawing in the Linnafan herba- 

 rium, which appears to have been fent by AUamand from 

 the Weft Indies, has led us to fuppofe each filament bore 

 four anthers ; but it feems there are only two, each of two 

 round, diftindl, vertical lobes, as reprefented by Aublet, 

 t. 275, and copied by Lamarck. The order of Decandria 

 muft therefore be reflored in the clafs Polyadelphia. See 

 Sm. Intr. to Bot. ed. 3. 340. Linna:us's cliaraiSers of 

 Tlieobroma in Gen. PI. were taken chiefly from Plumier's 

 Guazuma, the Bubroma of Schreb. Gen. 513; fee that 

 article. He has left a more correft defcription in manu- 

 fcript, from which perhaps his fon corapofed what is given 

 in the Supplementum. From thefe fources, with the help of 

 Allamand's drawing, and what is to be found in Aublet and 

 Schreber, we have drawn up our account, having no oppor- 

 tunity of examining a flower. 



I. Th. Cacao. Smooth-leaved Chocolate-tree. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1 100. Suppl. 341. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. \. (Th. 

 n. 2 and 3 ; Browne Jam. 306. Cacao ; Merian. Surin. 

 t. 26 and 63. C. Theobroma ; Tuflac Flore des Antilles, 

 t. 13. Arbor cacavifera americana ; Pluk. Almag. 40. 

 Phyt. t. 268. f. 3.) — Leaves entire, fmooth on both fides. 

 — Native of South America. Miller appears to have had 

 this plant alive at Chelfea, but it has never long fucceeded 

 in our ftoves ; being extremely tender, even in fome parts of 

 the Weft Indies. Browne fays the Chocolate-trees, though 

 naturalized in the woods of Jamaica, are very delicate, and 

 rarely furvive when once they are loofened in the ground by 

 hurricanes. (See Chocolate. ) Thefe trees are the fize 

 of a middling apple-tree, but feldom exceed fix or feven 

 inches in diameter. They are very beautiful, efpecially 

 when laden with fruit, which is difperfed, on ftiort ftalks, 

 over the Jlem, and round principal branches ; its yellow hue 

 and warty furface fomewhat refembling a citron. The leaves 

 are alternate, ftalked, drooping, a foot long, and three 

 inches broad, elliptic -oblong, pointed, entire, flightly wavy. 



THE 



very fmooth on both fides, with one mid-rib, and many 

 tranfvcrfc ones, connefted by innumerable, minute, re- 

 ticulated veins. Foo//?a//f/ round, hairy, an inch long. 5/i- 

 pulas minute, deciduous. Flowers fmall, feveral together in 

 tufts, at the fides of the branches, on fimple ftalks, only 

 one in each tuft, commonly producing fruit. Calyx light 

 rofe-colourcd. Petals yellow. 



2. Th. guianenjls. Downy-leaved Chocolate-tree. Willd. 

 n. I. Ait. n. I. (Cacao guianenfis ; Aubl. Guian. v. 2. 

 683. t. 275.) — Leaves wavy, and fomewhat toothed; 

 downy beneath Native of marftiy woods in Guiana, bear- 

 ing flowers and fruit in September. Of rather more himible 

 growth than the foregoing. The leaves are, at moft, but 

 eight inches in length, and three in breadth ; their margin 

 wavy, or rather bordered with fiiallow teeth, towards the 

 extremity ; their upper furfacc fmooth and green ; the under 

 clothed with fhort, a(h-coloured, or rufty pubefcence, and 

 reticulated with fine veins. Footjlalks ftiort, channelled, 

 downy. Flowers fituated like the former. Calyx green 

 without, yellow within. Petals yellowifti. Fruit elliptical, 

 with five angles, and clothed with ftiort rufty down. Aublet 

 fays it has five cells, feparated by membranous partitions ; 

 the feeds enveloped in a gelatinous, white, melting fubftance ; 

 their kernel white, very good eating when frefti. He fpeaks 

 of this fpecies as the Chocolate of Guiana, though he men- 

 tions a Cacao fativa, with entire leares, as a cultivated kind, 

 under which he cites Theobroma Cacao of Linnseus, and its 

 acknowledged fynonyms. 



Aublet has alfo a Cacao fylveflris, v. 2. 687. t. 276, with 

 entire leaves, downy beneath, and a downy fruit, without 

 ribs. WiUdenow aflerts, we know not on what authority, 

 that this laft is Duroia Eriopila, Linn. Suppl. 209, of which 

 we, unfortunately, have met with no fpecimen. A branch 

 of Aublet's plant, communicated from his own herbarium 

 by fir Jofeph Banks, appears a variety of the laft, its leavet 

 being obfcurely toothed in a fimilar manner ; but for want 

 of j?owfrj we cannot fay how far it anfwers to Duroia, be- 

 tween which and Theobroma there is no affinity in that refpeft. 

 Aublet clearly defcribes his as a Theobroma, and we cannot 

 help fufpefting fome error in WiUdenow, as well as, pof- 

 fibly, a difagreement between Aublet's figure and our above- 

 mentioned fpecimen, which latter may be, as above hinted, 

 his Cacao guianenfis. At any rate, the two fpecies of Theo- 

 broma which we have defcribed, are certainly and perma- 

 nently diilinft. 



Theobroma, in Gardening, contains a plant of the exotic 

 tree kind, of which the fpecies ufually cultivated is the cho- 

 colate nut-tree (T. cacao). 



In its natural ftate, this tree produces a nut or fruit which 

 is fmooth, of a yellow, red, or of both colours, about 

 three inches in diameter : it has a fleftiy rind, near half an 

 inch in thicknefs, which is flefh-coloured within : the pulp 

 being whitifti, of the confiftence of butter, feparating from 

 the rind in a ftate of ripenefs, and adhering to it only by 

 filaments, which penetrate it, and reach to the feeds. Hence 

 it is known when the feeds are ripe by the rattling of the 

 capfule when it is ftiaken : the pulp has a fweet and not un- 

 pleafant tafte, with a flight acidity ; it is fucked and eaten 

 raw by the natives; it may be eafily feparated into as many 

 parts as there are feeds, to which it adheres ftrongly, and 

 they are wrapped up in it, fo that each feed feems to have 

 its own proper pulp : the feeds are about twenty-five in 

 number : when frefh, they are of a fiefli-colour : gathered 

 before they are ripe, they preferve them in fugar, and thus 

 they are very grateful to the palate : they quickly lofe their 

 power of vegetation, if taken out of the capfule, but kept 

 in it, they preferve that power for a long time ; the tree 

 4 bears 



