These are leaves and seed pods from a cacao tree. One seed pod is unopened and is entirely brown, while the other seed pod is vertically cut in half and has exposed white innards and dark brown seeds. The leaves are dark green and are arranged behind the seed pods. Overall, the specimen measures approximately 37 cm x 28 cm. The cacao seed pods measure approximately 16 cm x 7 cm. This specimen description was written remotely based on images as part of Amber Kreiensieck's internship in Fall 2021.
- Catalog Number:
- 400543 -DSP
- Object/Specimen Description:
- Specimen Count:
- 1
- Collector:
- A. Novi
- Special Instructions:
- Only available digitally
- Upper Level Taxonomy:
- Plantae, Equisetopsida, Magnoliidae, Rosanae, Malvales, Malvaceae
- Location:
- Collection Wall
Dicots begin their lives as seeds nourished by two seed leaves (cotyledons). The leaves provide nutrients to the developing seed until it grows its first real leaves that can make food by photosynthesizing. Most flowering plants are dicots, which includes many of the foods humans enjoy: grapes, squash, soybeans, strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, etc. You can tell a dicot by its characteristic branching leaf veins. Not only do dicots feed us, they also cloth us; cotton, linen, and hemp are dicots. Because dicots and conifers are the only plants able to form wood, they are central to our building industry. Wood is extra plant tissue for transporting water and nutrients (vascular tissue). It forms when cells specialized for growth (meristems) continue to divide. The result is that the tree grows, adding to its width and height. Maples, oaks, and hickories, all sources of wood, are dicots.