Cocoa, Cacao, Chocolate Nut Tree
Theobroma cacao · Malvaceae · 카카오
How to spot it
Identified by flowers growing directly on the trunk and branches, large pod fruit, and reddish new leaves.
Look
- Leaves
- Large ovate-oblong to elliptic leaves 12 to 60 cm long with distinct midrib and side veins; new leaves are reddish-pink and turn dark green.
- Flowers
- Small yellowish-white or pink flowers grow directly on the trunk and thick branches (cauliflory).
- Fruit
- Pods 10 to 32 cm long with 5 to 10 lengthwise ridges, turning yellow, orange, red or purple when ripe; each pod holds 20 to 60 seeds.
- Bark
- The stem is woody and the bark is brown, smooth when mature.
Where it grows
- Native to
- Native to tropical primary rainforest in Mexico, Central America and northern South America.