When you buy a bar of chocolate or drinking coffee is unlikely to guess that comes into contact with "food of the gods". Exactly. After all, the Latin name for plants of the fruit which makes chocolate, comes from two words: "Theos" - God and the "bromine" - food. Cocoa (chocolate tree) - evergreen tropical forests of America and Africa, especially in large quantities is found on the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Homeland cocoa are tropical South America.
Cocoa is a small tree 3-5 m tall, sometimes 9-12 m and less - 20 hours begin to flower and bear fruit in 3-5 years. On the plantations of the tree pruned to 5-8 m. The root system of his rod, reaching a depth of 1 m, with numerous lateral branching. Overground part has a straight trunk with branches verticillate placed. Leaves large, oval, length of 20-40 cm and a width of 7-15 cm, for cocoa Cauliflory typical phenomenon, ie the formation of the flower directly on the trunk or thick branches (30 - 50 flowers - from white to red).
The flowers have a size of about 1.5 cm in diameter, are bisexual. Ovary pyatignezdnaya.
Flowers are placed in rows. In addition to painting, it does not attract other insects, as they have no odor and nectaries that produce nectar. The flowers are not pollinated by insects and small spiders, which are "wandering" on the tree from flower to flower, pollen is transferred. When planting the plantations are selected forms of self-pollinated, since cocoa is difficult cross-pollination.
Bloom cocoa usually after dinner, and the next morning is in polnotsvetenii. On the same day is pollination, especially in the morning. Seeds germinate pollen is very fast, and by evening fertilization takes place. 3 days after fertilization column coarsens, the petals fall.
Fruit cocoa naked, elongated-oval, segmented, tapered at the end, up to 30 cm long and 10 cm in diameter. The shell of the fruit is thick, the pulp is white or pink. In the fruit has five nests, each of which can accommodate from 5 to 12 reddish-brown egg-shaped or flattened seeds. Whole fruit contains from 25 to 60 seeds.
