dcsimg

Comments

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The seeds are important as the source of chocolate and cocoa.
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Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 12: 321 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Flora of China @ eFloras.org
editor
Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
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eFloras.org
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Description

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Evergreen trees, to 12 m tall; bark thick, dark gray-brown. Branchlets brown, puberulent. Stipules linear, caducous; leaf blade narrowly ovate- to obovate-elliptic, 20-30 × 7-10 cm, both surfaces glabrous or sparsely stellate, base rounded to shallowly cordate, apex long acuminate. Inflorescence small and delicate, cymose. Flowers ca. 18 mm in diam.; pedicels ca. 12 mm. Calyx pink, lobes narrowly lanceolate, persistent, margin hairy. Petals 5, yellowish, lightly longer than calyx, lower part helmet-shaped and abruptly narrowed, reflexed, apex acute. Staminodes linear. Ovary obovoid, slightly 5-angular, 5-celled; ovules 14-16 per locule, in 2 rows; style cylindrical. Drupe ellipsoid or narrowly ellipsoid, 15-20 × ca. 7 cm, longitudinally 10-grooved; endocarp thick, fleshy, hard and woody when dried, 4-8 mm thick. Seeds 12-14 per cell, ovoid, slightly flattened, ca. 2.5 × 1.5 cm. Fl. throughout year.
license
cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
copyright
Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 12: 321 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Flora of China @ eFloras.org
editor
Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
project
eFloras.org
original
visit source
partner site
eFloras

Habitat & Distribution

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Cultivated. Hainan, S Yunnan [native of South America, now widely cultivated throughout wet tropics].
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cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
copyright
Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 12: 321 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Flora of China @ eFloras.org
editor
Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
project
eFloras.org
original
visit source
partner site
eFloras

Caffeine

provided by EOL authors

There are at least 63 plant species known to produce caffeine(1). The most important harvested plants are coffee, tea, cacao, maté, kola (the original caffeine ingredient in carbonated drinks) and guarana (common in health supplements). In tea and maté, the leaves are harvested; for coffee, cacao, kola and guarana, the fruit and seeds. The highest concentrations of caffeine tend to occur in tea and guarana, but all species can vary widely in caffeine content, depending on variety, climate, and cultivation (Graham, 2009), and whether the plant is male or female. Some reported concentrations:

Plant_______ Scientific Name_____ Caffeine content___Source

Tea________Camellia sinensis____ 2.7-4.1%__________Kaplan et al, 1974 Guarana____Paullinia cupana______1.6-4.3%__________Baumann et al, 1995

Kola_______ Cola acuminate ______1-2.2%___________ Somorin, 1973

& Cola nitida

Coffee______Coffea arabica_______ 0.8-1.8%__________Kaplan et al, 1974

Maté_______ Ilex paraguayensis ___ 0.8-1.7%__________Dellacassa et al, 2007 Cacao______Theobroma cacao____ 0.07-1.7%_________Asamoa and Wurziger, 1976

On top of this natural variation, preparation of a serving can greatly vary the strength of the caffeine dose. A prepared cup of regular coffee (not counting decaf) can vary five-fold in caffeine concentration among brands and methods (McCusker et al, 2003). The same study found, after purchasing the same beverage from the same coffee shop for six days in a row, that the dose among those six cups varied up to a factor of two, from 259-564mg per cup.

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Jennifer Hammock
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EOL authors