TREES COMMONLY CULTIVATED IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Theobroma cacao Sterculiaceae
Common names: Cacao (En); kakaaw (Cam); coklat (Ins); pokok coklat (Mal); kokoe (Mya);
kho kho (Tha); cây ca cao (Vie).
Description: A scrub or small evergreen tree, 5–8 m
tall (wild specimens can be up to 20 m) with a canopy
about 4–5 m in diameter at 10 years age. Branches in
whorls of 3–6. Leaves are semi-deciduous, 15–50 cm
long and 4–15 cm wide, oblong ovate, acuminate with
rounded base which is shortly 3 veined. Leaf stalk 1–
Key characteristics: Small;
branches in whorls of 5; leaves
quite large with rounded 3-veined
base; flowers and fruits on trunk
and branches.
10 cm, thickened at both ends. Yellow to white 5-merous flowers single or grouped on trunk and
branches, about 1–1.5 cm in diameter. Fruit variable in shape, mostly ovoid, oblong, 10–30 cm
long, usually pointed, wrinkled with 10 furrows of which 5 are prominent, yellow, green, red or
purplish in color.
Use: Almost exclusively grown for the fruit which yields the cacao beans.
Ecology: Grows in warm, humid tropical
habitats up to 700–1,000 m altitude, with
uniform rain distribution of 1,000–5,000
mm annually, deep, well drained, fertile
soil, rich in organic matter and not to acid.
Distribution: Native to the upper
Amazonian region. It has been cultivated
for several thousand years in its home area
but is now also growing in most Asian
countries with suitable climate.
References: Hensleigh & Holaway (1988)
Purseglove (1974), Westphal & Jansen
(1993).