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Cacao

Theobroma cacao

Photo by PatriciaPi
Published on Project Noah
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10.1955, -83.261

Field Notes

Description:

is a small (4–8 m or 15–26 ft tall) evergreen tree
Cacao leaves are alternate, entire, unlobed, 10–40 cm (4–16 in) long and 5–20 cm (2–8 in) broad.
Cacao flowers.The flowers are produced in clusters directly on the trunk and older branches; they are small, 1–2 cm (1/2–1 in) diameter, with pink calyx

Habitat:

cultivated

Notes:

cacao flowers are pollinated by tiny flies, Forcipomyia midges

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (10)
PatriciaPi
Thank's Ashish Nimkar and Sachin Zaveri!
Ashish
Lovely shooting... Learning here..!!
PatriciaPi
yes, it was on a organic plantation where i was working, it's a young plantation, so probably the epiphytes haven't had time to colonize the cocoa plants. But there were big and old mango trees filled with orchids and bromeliads, sooooo pretty!
craigwilliams
Tiny flower....... massive fruit.......... mmmmmmmm! Delicious! All the cultivated plants I've seen in the UK have orange fruits. Nice to see a different form. Was this in a plantation? I've always been curious about whether you find a lot of epiphytes in old Cocoa plantations, but I suppose they would get cleaned off so they don't restrict the flowering potential of the trees.

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Photographed
PublishedDecember 28, 2011

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