580 MISC. PUBLICATION 42 3, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



75. STERCULIACEAE. Cacao family 



Plants herbaceous to treelike, the pubescence wholly or partly of 

 forked or stellate hairs; leaves alternate, simple; flowers perfect, 

 regular or nearly so; calyx usually 5-lobed; petals normally 5, or none, 

 free or united with the stamen tube; fertile stamens 5, the filaments 

 more or less united below, with staminodia sometimes also present; 

 fruit a 1- to 5-celled capsule. 



The most important plant of this family is Theobroma cacao, a native 

 of tropical America, from the seeds of which cocoa and chocolate are 

 obtained. 



Key to the genera 



1. Sepa]s large, bright yellow; petals none; plant a large shrub or small tree. 



1. Fremontodendron. 

 1. Sepals relatively small and inconspicuous; petals present; plants small shrubs 

 or herbs (2) . 

 2. Petals reddish or purplish, with broad hooded blades abruptly contracted 

 into slender claws; stamens 10, the 5 fertile ones alternating with sta- 

 minodia, the anthers 3-celled; stigma capitate, larger than the style. 



4. Ayenia. 

 2. Petals orange, with flat, spatulate or obovate blades tapering gradually into 

 relatively broad claws; stamens 5, all fertile, the anthers 2-celled; stigma 

 minute, not or scarcely larger than the style (3). 

 3. Flowers solitary in the leaf axils, on elongate peduncles; calyx tube not 

 strongly ribbed; petals 6 to 8 mm. long; anthers hispidulous; styles 5, 

 not contorted; fruit much larger than the calyx, 5-celled, bladder- 

 like; seeds several in each cell 2. Hermannia. 



3. Flowers numerous, sessile, in dense glomerules aggregated into small 

 panicles; calyx tube strongly 10-ribbed, turbinate; petals about 4 mm. 

 long; anthers glabrous; style 1, somewhat contorted; fruit enclosed 

 in the calyx, 1-celled, not inflated; seed solitary 3. Waltheria. 



1. FREMONTODENDRON. Fremontia 



A large evergreen shrub or small tree; leaf blades thickish, usually 

 palmately lobed, truncate or subcordate at base, the lower surface 

 whitish or yellowish, scurfy -tomentose with minute stellate hairs; 

 flowers solitary, extra-axillary, showy; sepals large, bright yellow, each 

 with a hairy gland at base; petals none; capsule 4- or 5-celled. 



1. Fremontodendron californicum (Torr.) CoviJle, Contrib. U. S. 

 Natl. Herbarium 4: 74. 1893. 



Fremontia calif ornica Torr., PL Fremont. 5. 1853. 



Gila County, near Pay son and in the Mazatzal Mountains (Collom 

 1101), and at the junction of Rock and Pinto Creeks (Copple and 

 Cooperider in 1926), Pinal County, Cliff Dweller Canyon {Sizer S-49), 

 reported to occur also in the Braclshaw Mountains (Yavapai County) , 

 rare and local, 3,700 to 6,000 feet, on dry usually north slopes in 

 canyons, May. Central Arizona, California, and Baja California. 



A handsome plant when in flower, frequently planted in California 

 as an ornamental, also known as flannelbush and California slippery 

 elm. The bark is said to have the same properties as that of the true 

 slippery elm (Ulmus fulva Michx.) and to be used for the same pur- 

 pose, i. e., to relieve irritation of the throat. Cattle browse this 

 plant. 



2. HERMANNIA 



Plant herbaceous or slightly woody at base, loosely pubescent or 

 glabrate; flowers small, axillary; calyx 5-cleft, the lobes longer than 



