THEINGON UM, in botany, a genus of the Monoecia Polyandria class and order. Natural order of Scabridx. Urtic:e, Jus sieu. Essential character : male, calyx bifid ; corolla none ; stamina commonly twelve : female, calyx bifid; corolla none ; pieta one ; capsule coriaceoris, one-cell ed, one-seeded. There is only one spe cies, viz. T. cynocrambe, purslain-leaved thelygonum, or dog's cabbage : this is an annual plant, decaying as soon as the seeds ripen; the stalks trail on the ground like those of chick-weed ; they grow about a foot in length, having acute point ed leaves, on long bordered foot-stalks ; flowers axillary, in clusters, sitting very close, small, and of an herbaceous white colour ; male and female from the same joint ; it is a native of the South of France, near Montpelier.
THEOBilOMA, in botany, a genus of the PolyadelpIria IJecandria class and or der. Natural order of Colomniferae. Mal vacew, Jussieu. Essential character : ca lyx five-leaved ; petals five, arched; nec tary five-horned; filaments five, within the calyx of the petals, growing external ly to the nectary, having two anthers on each. There is hut one species, viz. T. cacao, chocolate nut tree, which grows in a very handsome form, to the height of twelve or sixteen feet ; the wood is light, and of a white colour ; the bark is brown ish and even ; leaves lanceolate, oblong, bright green, entire, from nine to sixteen inches long, and from three to four in the widest part, on a petiole an inch in length, thickened at both ends ; peduncles slender, eight or ten together, chiefly from the scars of fallen leaves ; flowers small, reddish, inodorous ; fruit smooth, yellow and red, about three inches in di ameter; rind fleshy, half an inch in thick ness ; pulp whitish; the consistence. of
butter, separating from the rind in a state of ripeness, and adhering to it only by filaments, which penetrate it and reach to the seeds ; when the seeds are ripe, is known by the rattling of the capsule when shaken. This tree hears leaves, flowers, and fruit, all the year through ; the usual seasons for gathering the fruit are June and December ; one tree yields from two to three pounds of seeds annual ly. It is a native of South America ; it is also found in several places between the Tropics, particularly at Caracca and Car thagena, on the river Amazons, the Isth !MIS of Darien, &c. This tree ig culti vated in many of the West India islands, belonging to the French and Spaniards, and finmerly in some of those belonging to the English, but has been neglected in the latter for many years past.