486 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



Chocolate {Theohroma Cacao). A small tree, native of 

 tropical America, where it is widely distributed and culti- 

 vated. It grows from 16 to 18 feet high, and has large 

 oblong-pointed leaves of a thin, paper-like texture, very 

 tender when young. The flowers are small, and produced 

 on the old stem and branches, and in time are followed by a 

 pod-like fruit 6 to 10 inches in length, and 3 to 5 in girth, 

 marked with longitudinal ribs, and containing 50 or more 

 seeds. These when ripe are taken from the pod and allowed 

 to undergo a slight fermentation, after which they are dried 

 in the sun, when they acquire a brown colour and become 

 the Chocolate Bean or Nut of commerce. Millions of pounds 

 are annually brought to Europe, the chief supply coming 

 from Trinidad and Granada. In order to give them a fic- 

 titious higher value they are sprinkled with water and dusted 

 with red earth, being frequently turned while drying. 

 This accounts for the supposed discovery that chocolate was 

 purposely adulterated Mdth red earth. 



In process of manufacture the two cotyledons separate, and 

 form what are called cocoa- nibs. These when ground and 

 formed into cakes, flavoured with vanilla and other sub- 

 stances, constitute the different kinds of chocolate sold in 

 shops. The highly praised virtues of Cacao led to its being 

 called Theobroma, meaning food of the gods. 



St. Helena Ebony {Dombeya melanoxylon) . This is one of 

 the special plants, found only in the small island of St. 

 Helena, and is now nearly, if not entirely, extinct, the trees 

 having been used for firewood. The largest one standing 

 some years ago was from 10 to 15 feet high, with crooked 

 stems about the thickness of a man's thigh, having numerous 

 spreading branches, and small, more or less heart-shaped 

 tomentose leaves. In old trunks the wood is hard and 

 black, and is called ebony. A second species, D. ery- 

 throxylon, Eed Wood, has been described, but it is now be- 

 lieved to be only a younger state of the above, and is not 

 now found in the Island. 



Astrapma Wallichii, A. viscosa, Dombeya mollis, D. vi- 



