CHAPTER V.
PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR SEEDS.
Article I.—Seeds used for Food.
Cacao—Theobroma Cacao, Linnæus.
The genus Theobroma, of the order Byttneriaceæ, allied to the Malvaceæ, consists of fifteen to eighteen species, all belonging to tropical America, principally in the hotter parts of Brazil, Guiana, and Central America.
The common cacao, Theobroma Cacao, is a small tree wild in the forests of the Amazon and Orinoco basins[1564] and of their tributaries up to four hundred feet of altitude. It is also said to grow wild in Trinidad, which lies near the mouth of the Orinoco.[1565] I find no proof that it is indigenous in Guiana, although it seems probable. Many early writers indicate that it was both wild and cultivated at the time of the discovery of America from Panama to Guatemala and Campeachy; but from the numerous quotations collected by Sloane,[1566] it is to be feared that its wild character was not sufficiently verified. Modern botanists are not very explicit on this head, and in general they only mention the cacao as cultivated in these regions and in the West India Islands. G. Bernoulli,[1567] who had resided in Guatemala, only says, “wild and cultivated throughout tropical America;” and Hemsley,[1568] in his review of the plants of Mexico and Central America, made in 1879 from the rich materials of the Kew herbarium, gives no locality where the species is indigenous. It was perhaps introduced into Central America and into the warm regions of Mexico by the Indians before the discovery of America. Cultivation may have naturalized it here and there, as is said to be the case in Jamaica.[1569] In support of this hypothesis, it must be observed that Triana[1570] indicates the cacao as only cultivated in the warm regions of New Granada, a country situated between Panama and the Orinoco valley.
However this may be, the species was grown in Central America and Yucatan at the time of the discovery of America. The seeds were sent into the highlands of Mexico, and were even used as money, so highly were they valued. The custom of drinking chocolate was general. The name of this excellent drink is Mexican. The Spaniards carried the cacao from Acapulco to the Philippine Isles in 1674 and 1680,[1571] where it succeeded wonderfully. It is also cultivated in the Sunda Isles. I imagine it would succeed on the Guinea and Zanzibar coasts, but it is of no use to attempt to grow it in countries which are not very hot and very damp.
Another species, Theobroma bicolor, Humboldt and Bonpland, is found growing with the common cacao in American plantations. It is not so much prized. On the other hand, it does not require so high a temperature, and can live at an altitude of nearly three thousand feet in the valley of the Magdalena. It abounds in a wild state in New Granada.[1572] Bernoulli asserts that it is only cultivated in Guatemala, though the inhabitants call it mountain cacao.
Litchi—Nephelium Litchi, Cambessides.
The seed of this species and of the two following is covered with a fleshy excrescence, very sweet and scented, which is eaten with tea.