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Theobroma cacao
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Family:
STERCULIACEAE
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Citation: Theobroma cacao L., Sp. Pl. 752. 1753; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 96. 1984; K.C. Malick in B.D. Sharma & Sanjappa, Fl. India 3: 476. 1993; V. Chithra in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 476. 2005; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 141. 2009; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 168. 2009.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Kokko
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Cocco, Cacao, Cocoa Tree, Chocolate Nut tree
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Description:
Small, evergreen trees. Leaves alternate, large, elliptic-oblong or obovate, entire, abruptly acuminate, 15-30 cm long, leathery; short-petioled with a well marked pulvinus at each end.. Flowers cauliflorous, small. Petals hooded at base. Staminal tube short with 5 petaloid elongate staminodes and 2 or 3 sessile anthers. Ovary sessile, 5-loculed; ovules many in each locule; stigma 5-lobed. Fruit a large woody drupe, ellipsoid-ovoid, ca 30 cm long, smooth or ribbed, reddish yellow, 5-loculed each with a double row of almond-like seeds embedded in white-pinkish or brownish mucilaginous aromatic pulp.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
November-May
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District(s):
All Districts
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Cultivated
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Distribution:
Widely cultivated in the tropics; native of Tropical America
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
Yes
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Garden:
No
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Edible:
Yes
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
R. Block, Pooyamkutty
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