Cacao is the plant that produces the cacao bean used for making chocolate.

Cacao

Cacao is the plant that produces the cacao bean used for making chocolate.

"Cocoa. a.-- branch with leaves; b.-- fruit (partly in section). Cacao (or Cocoa), the chocolate tree and also the powder and beverage made with it obtained from the fruit of this tree." -Vaughan, 1906

Cacao Fruit and Leaves

"Cocoa. a.-- branch with leaves; b.-- fruit (partly in section). Cacao (or Cocoa), the chocolate tree…

"Cacao, or cocoa, is the chocolate tree, and also the powder and beverage made with it obtained from the fruit of this tree. The tree is 16 to 18 feet high, a native of tropical America, and much cultivated in the tropics of both hemispheres, especially in the West India Islands, Central and South America. Its fruit is contained in pointed, oval, ribbed pods 6 to 10 inches long, each inclosing 50 to 100 seeds in a white, sweetish pulp. The term coca is a corruption of cacao, but is more commonly used in commerce: cocoa nuts, however, are obtained from an entirely different tree."—(Charles Leonard-Stuart, 1911)

Cacao Plant

"Cacao, or cocoa, is the chocolate tree, and also the powder and beverage made with it obtained from…

"The cocoa, or as it should be written,cacao, tree is an evergreen, and it said to bear some resemblance to a young cherry-tree; the leaves are large and simple, the flowers grow in clusters, the pods are not unlike cucumbers in form, and of a yellowish red color; they contain from twenty to thirty nuts." -Lupton

Cacao Tree

"The cocoa, or as it should be written,cacao, tree is an evergreen, and it said to bear some resemblance…

"The different kinds of cocoa either consist of, or are prepared from, the seeds of trees of the genus Theobroma." — Chambers' Encyclopedia, 1875

Cocao

"The different kinds of cocoa either consist of, or are prepared from, the seeds of trees of the genus…

A cocoa plant.

Cocoa

A cocoa plant.

Cocoa or Cacao. 1, flower; 2, pod; 3, section of pod.

Cocoa plant

Cocoa or Cacao. 1, flower; 2, pod; 3, section of pod.