Theobroma cacao (fruit)

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Revision as of 18:05, 26 May 2015

AHPA recognizes other valuable resources exist regarding the identity of Theobroma cacao.

To submit a suggestion or contribution, please contact Merle Zimmermann.

Contents

Nomenclature

Theobroma cacao L.   Sterculiaceae  
Standardized common name (English): cacao

Botanical Voucher Specimen

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Theobroma cacao Kew barcode=K000381047 225205.jpg
Source: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.[1]

Theobroma cacao Kew barcode=K001132315 713127.jpg
Source: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.[2]

Organoleptic Characteristics

Cacao beans have a slightly aromatic, bitterish, oily taste, and, when bruised or heated, an agreeable odor.

Source: United States Dispensatory (1918) [3]

Macroscopic Characteristics

Theobroma Cacao Linn. is a handsome tree, from twelve to twenty feet in height, growing in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America. [...] The fruit is an oblong-ovate capsule or berry, six or eight inches in length, with a thick, coriaceous, somewhat ligneous rind, enclosing a whitish pulp, in which numerous seeds are embedded. These are ovate, somewhat compressed, about as large as an almond, and consist of an exterior thin shell and a brown oily kernel. Separated from the matter in which they are enveloped, they constitute the cacao, or chocolate nuts, of commerce.

Source: United States Dispensatory (1918) [4]

Microscopic Characteristics

High Performance Thin Layer Chromatographic Identification

Supplementary Information

Sources

  1. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/K000381047
  2. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/K001132315
  3. United States Dispensatory (1918)
  4. United States Dispensatory (1918)
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