Theobroma

Theobroma is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It was previously classified as a member of Sterculiaceae, which has been incorporated into Malvaceae to make it monophyletic. It contains 41 species of small understory trees native to the tropical forests of Central and South America.

Species

GENUS

KingdomPlantae
PhylumTracheophyta
ClassMagnoliopsida
OrderMalvales
FamilyMalvaceae

Native toBolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico Southeast, Nicaragua

Observations recorded25,354

Common Name: trinitario

via GBIF · Kew POWO

Museum specimens

Specimen records: 326
With media: 113
Family: Malvaceae
Collections: IBUNAM, INECOL, NY, CM, UNESP-IBILCE, US
Recorded in: Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Panama, Nigeria, Brasil, Belice, Costa Rica

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Encyclopedic overview

7 sections

Contents

Taxonomy
Etymology
Species
Formerly placed here
Uses
References
External links

The seeds of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), the best known species of the genus, are used for making chocolate. Cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum), mocambo (Theobroma bicolor) and capacui (Theobroma speciosum) are also of economic importance.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Theobroma” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.