Type : Live Plant
Size : 20-25Cm


Cocoa tree is the source of one of the world's most delicious and familiar products... chocolate.

    The edible properties of Theobroma cacao were discovered over 2,000 years ago by the local people of Central America living deep in the tropical rainforests. In the year 2008-2009 world cocoa production was 3,515,000 tonnes. This is equivalent to the weight of a line of double-decker buses stretching more than three times the length of Britain!

    Chocolate is more than just a delicacy; evidence suggests that eating between 46 and 105g chocolate a day can have a moderate effect on lowering blood pressure. Cocoa has been used for an array of medicinal purposes. Unfermented cocoa seeds and the seed coat are used to treat a variety of ailments, including diabetes, digestive and chest complaints. Cocoa powder, prepared from fermented cocoa seeds, is used to prevent heart disease. Cocoa butter is taken to lower cholesterol levels, although its efficacy is unclear.

    It is also used widely in foods and pharmaceutical preparations, as well as being used as a rich moisturiser for the skin.

Genus name comes from a name coined by Linnaeus, from theos meaning a god and broma meaning food - literally, "food of the gods".
Specific epithet is the Aztec name for this plant.

Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. In tropical areas, trees are susceptible to a variety of insect pests (including mirids, cocoa pod borer and stem borers) and disease pests (including anthracnose, black pod, witches broom, frosty pod rot, swollen shoot, vascular streak dieback and canker).

Uses
Commercially grown pantropically for its seeds/beans. Interesting small ornamental tree for tropical areas.

 

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