Cocoa flower which belongs to the family of Sterculiacees is quite small, it measures from 1 to 2 cms. It is generally of white color, slightly tinged with yellow or pink. It grows in very large number during several months of the year. .
The inflorescence seems arranged on the bark in floral bouquet, at first in the form of bud, in the low parts of the tree on the trunk and the biggest branches It is formed by a chalice of five sepals and by five petals of color creamy white arranged in corolla. At the heart of the flower of the cocoa the ovary contains around 40 ovules as much as around seeds contained in the intended dent. The flower of the cocoa has in fact only an ephemeral life on a single day and its pollination remains largely a mystery It is admitted that it occurs thanks to small insects.
The preservation on the ground at the foot of the trees of organic matter decomposing, like leaves and branches, to favor the mutiplication of these insects in plantations. A few weeks later appears a small fruit called cherelle which by growing becomes a pod at the end of four or five months...".
