The Malvales are an order of flowering plants. As circumscribed by APG II-system, the order includes about 6000 species within 9 families. The order is placed in the eurosids II, which are part of the eudicots.
Theobroma cacao, also called the cacao tree and the cocoa tree, is a small evergreen tree in the family Malvaceae, native to the deep tropical regions of Mesoamerica. Its seeds, cocoa beans, are used to make chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and chocolate. The largest producer of cocoa beans in 2018 was Ivory Coast, with 37% of the world total.
Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ornamentals, such as Alcea (hollyhock), Malva (mallow) and Lavatera, as well as Tilia. The largest genera in terms of number of species include Hibiscus, Sterculia, Dombeya, Pavonia and Sida.
Crinum is a genus of about 180 species of perennial plants that have large showy flowers on leafless stems, and develop from bulbs. They are found in seasonally moist areas, including marshes, swamps, depressions and along the sides of streams and lakes in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide.
Fremontodendron, with the common names fremontia, flannelbush, and flannel bush, is a genus of three known species of shrubs native to the Southwestern United States and northwest Mexico.
Theobroma is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae, that is sometimes classified as a member of Sterculiaceae. It contains roughly 20 species of small understory trees native to the tropical forests of Central and South America. The generic name is derived from the Greek words θεός (theos), meaning "god," and βρῶμα (broma), meaning "food". It translates to "food of the gods."
Sterculiaceae was a family of flowering plants based on the Genus Sterculia. Genera are now placed in the Family Malvaceae, in the subfamilies: Byttnerioideae, Dombeyoideae, Helicteroideae and Sterculioideae.
Brachychiton is a genus of 31 species of trees and large shrubs, native to Australia, and New Guinea. Fossils from New South Wales and New Zealand are estimated to be 50 million years old, corresponding to the Paleogene.
Cauliflory is a botanical term referring to plants that flower and fruit from their main stems or woody trunks rather than from new growth and shoots. This can allow trees to be pollinated or have their seeds dispersed by animals that climb on trunks and sturdy limbs to feed on the nectar and fruits. With fruit, plants may instead have fruit which drop from the canopy and ripen only after they reach the ground, an alternative "strategy" to cauliflory.
Brachychiton acerifolius is a large tree of the family Malvaceae endemic to tropical and subtropical regions on the east coast of Australia. It is famous for the bright red bell-shaped flowers that often cover the whole tree when it is leafless. It is commonly known as the flame tree, Illawarra flame tree, lacebark tree, or kurrajong.
Abroma is a genus in the family Malvaceae, with one or two species from Asia and Australia. Ambroma is an orthographic variant.
Brachychiton rupestris, commonly known as the narrow-leaved bottle tree or Queensland bottle tree, is a tree in the family Malvaceae native to Queensland, Australia. Discovered and described by Sir Thomas Mitchell and John Lindley in 1848, it gained its name from its bulbous trunk, which can be up to 3.5 metres (11 ft) diameter at breast height (DBH). Reaching 10–25 metres (33–82 ft) high, the Queensland bottle tree is deciduous, losing its leaves between September and December. The leaves are simple or divided, with one or more narrow leaf blades up to 11 centimetres (4 in) long and 2 centimetres (0.8 in) wide. Cream-coloured flowers appear from September to November, and are followed by woody boat-shaped follicles that ripen from November to May. No subspecies are recognised.
Herrania is a genus of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae, subfamily Byttnerioideae.
Pentadiplandra brazzeana is an evergreen shrub or liana that is the only species assigned to the genus Pentadiplandra, and has been placed in a family of its own called Pentadiplandraceae. It produces large red berries, sometimes mottled with grey. It is known from West-Central Tropical Africa, between northern Angola, eastern Nigeria and western Democratic Republic of Congo. The berry is sweet in taste due to the protein, brazzein, which is substantially sweeter than saccharose. Brazzein may be useful as a low-calorie sweetener, but is not yet allowed as a food additive in the United States and the European Union.
Brachychiton gregorii, commonly known as the desert kurrajong, is a small tree of the genus Brachychiton found in northern and western Australia. It was originally classified in the family Sterculiaceae, which is now within Malvaceae.
Byttnerioideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Malvaceae.
Theobroma bicolor, known commonly as the mocambo tree, jaguar tree, balamte, or pataxte, among various other common names, is a tree in the genus Theobroma, which also contains the better-known Theobroma cacao. It is found in Central and South America, including stretches of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Brachychiton megaphyllus, commonly known as the red-flowering kurrajong, is a tree of the genus Brachychiton found in northern Australia.
Barbara Ann Whitlock is a botanist, who earned a PhD from Harvard University, with a dissertation entitled Systematics and evolution of chocolate and its relatives c. 2000, an interest which continues.
