Theobroma cacao, the Food of the Gods. This was the name given to the chocolate plant -- the cacao tree -- by Linnaeus.
Cacao is an evergreen tree, 15 to 25 feet tall, that keeps leave, fruit, and flowers all year, just as the orange tree does. Just like the orange tree, the cacao tree's special growth habit led people to associate it with fertility. No one carries the flowers at weddings, though; the blossoms of a chocolate tree are small and have no scent.
The fruit is pretty spectacular, though. The pods grow to be two feet long, and are full of the cacao beans that produce the raw material for real chocolate.
Cacao grows in equatorial regions, primarily in Africa and South and Central America. More than a million tons of cocoa beans are harvested each year worldwide.
