• f 



; 1143 



£Ije £rra£uvM at 23otau». 



[theo 



name is derived from the Greek words 

 thelus 'a woman 'and mitra ' a cap,' in allu- 

 sion to the hood-shaped column. Mac- 

 donaldia is generally referred to this 

 genus. [W. B. H.] 



THELYPTERI8. Lastrea. 

 THEOBROMA. This genus is named 

 from the Greek words theos 'god' and bro- 

 ma 'food,' in consequence of the well- 

 known Cacao or Chocolate being the pro- 

 duce of its seeds. It is a group of tropi- 

 cal American ByttneriacecE, consisting of 

 eight or ten species of small trees, with 

 large entire leaves, and solitary or clustered 

 flowers growing from the sides of the old 

 branches and stems, and producing large 

 five-celled more or less pentagonal fruits, 

 with a thick tough almost woody rind, 

 each cell containing numerous seeds em- 

 bedded in pulp. The seeds are destitute 

 of albumen, and have large thick crumpled 

 oily cotyledons. The flowers have a deeply 

 five-parted calyx ; five hooded petals ter- 

 minated by spatula-shaped or roundish 

 j appendages ; ten stamens united together 

 i at the bottom, five being sterile and alter- 

 nate with the petals, and five fertile and 

 opposite or enclosed in them, each of the 

 latter bearing two double-celled anthers; 

 and a five-cleft style. 

 T. Cacao was the first-known species of 

 ! the genus, and the Cacao or Cocoa of com- 

 merce is now usually said to be produced 

 by it, though it is probable that several of 

 tlie other species afford a considerable 



Thuobroma Cacao. 



portion. It is a small tree, seldom more 

 than sixteen or eighteen feet high ; and 

 has large oblong taper-pointed leaves, and 

 clusters of flowers with a rose-coloured 

 calyx and yellowish petals. Its fruits vary 

 from six to ten inches in length and three 

 to five in breadth, and are oblong, blunt, 

 and marked with ten elevated ribs running 

 lengthways. Each fruit contains between 

 fifty and a hundred seeds, and it is from 



i these that the Cacao is prepared. "When 

 ! ripe the fruits turn yellow outside ; and 

 ; they are then gathered by hand, and after- 

 wards split open and the seeds removed. 

 I These are then made to undergo a slight 

 amount of fermentation or sweating, last- 

 I ing from one to two days, for the purpose 

 { of developing their colour; and are after- 

 wards exposed to the sun daily for about 

 three weeks, or until they are thoroughly 

 dry, when they are packed for exportation. 

 I The cultivation of the Cacao-tree is 

 \ spread over the greater part of Tropical 

 i America ; hut the bulk of the Cacao- 

 seeds brought to England comes from our 

 "West Indian Colonies, principally from 

 ! Trinidad and Grenada. In 1863 our imports 

 | amounted to 9,592,965 lbs., but only 4,106,468 

 i lbs. were for home consumption, the re- 

 mainder being re-exported. An import 

 duty of one penny per pound is charged 

 upon them. To prepare them for use the 

 seeds are roasted in revolving metal cy- 

 linders, then bruised to loosen their skins 

 (which are removed by fanning), and the 

 : cotyledons, commonly called ' cocoa-nibs,' 

 ; afterwards crushed and ground between 

 i heated rollers, which softens the oily mat- 

 ter, and reduces them to ail uniform pasty 

 consistence. This is then mixed with vari- 

 able amounts of sugar and starch to form 

 the difftrent kinds of cocoa, or sweetened 

 and flavoured with vanilla or other sub- 

 stances for the formation of chocolate, 

 i As an article of food cocoa is exceeding- 

 ly valuable, from the large amount of nu- 

 tritive matter it contains ; but as a refresh- 

 ing beverage it is much inferior to either 

 tea or coffee, owing to the large amount 

 (50 per cent.) of fat which it contains, 

 and also to the fact that the whole of the 

 substance is taken into the stomach, while 

 with tea or coffee only an infusion is drunk. 

 It contains a peculiar principle, which is 

 called theobromine. The European consump- 

 tion of Cacao-seeds is estimated at nearly 

 forty millions of pounds, the Spaniards 

 being the largest consumers. [A. S.] 



THEOBROMINE. The peculiar princi- 

 ple of cocoa. 



THEO-METL. Agave Theometl. 



THEOPHRASTACEvE. A small order 

 proposed by Alphonse Decandolle iorTlieo- 

 phrasta and a few allied small genera, 

 which differ from other Myrsinacece chiefly 

 in the presence of scales in the throat of 

 the corolla, alternating with its lobes. It 

 is more frequently reduced to a tribe of 

 Myrsinacece. 



THEOPHRASTA. This genus of Myrsi- 

 nacece comprises a few noble-looking 

 shrubs, with unbranched stems, bearing 

 at the top tufts of long rigid spiny holly- 

 like leaves, from the axils of some of 

 which the racemes of flowers are pro- 

 duced. The calyx is deeply five-cleft; the 

 corolla somewhat bell-shaped, flve-lobed, 

 with five fleshy scales in its throat, alter- 

 nating with the lobes of the corolla and 

 with the five stamens ; the anthers con- 

 verge into a cone, their connectives being 



