The cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao) is a small evergreen tree, whose height is about 6 to 12 meters. This plant is mainly found in tropical regions. Its leaves are long, wide, and shiny. Small pink or white flowers bloom directly on the trunk and thick branches of the cocoa tree, which produce large yellow or orange fruits called pods. Inside these fruits are cocoa beans, which are used to make chocolate, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder.
Scientific Name: Theobroma cacao
Some Basic Information about Cocoa Tree (Theobroma cacao)
Habit: Small evergreen tree, 6–12 meters tall, tropical regions
Root: Tap root, deep and branched
Stem: Erect, branched, woody
Leaf: Alternate, simple, entire, large, oblong (10–50 cm), leathery
Inflorescence: Clusters (cauliflorous – on trunk/old branches), small
Flower: Bracteate, complete, bisexual, actinomorphic, small (1–2 cm), whitish or pink
Calyx: Sepals 5, fused, pink, valvate aestivation
Corolla: Petals 5, free, white/pink, spreading
Androecium: Stamens 10 (5 fertile, 5 sterile), polyandrous, dithecous, introrse
Gynoecium: Ovary superior, syncarpous, 5-celled, axile placentation, style short, stigma branched
Fruit: Berry (cacao pod), large, many seeds (cocoa beans) in sweet pulp
Floral formula: ⊕ ⚥ K5 C5 A(5°+5^2^) G(5)
Systematic Position:
Division – Angiospermae
Class – Dicotyledonae
Order – Malvales
Family – Malvaceae
Genus – Theobroma
Species – cacao
