Theobroma Theobroma 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." "Theobroma cacao", the best known species of the genus, is used for making chocolate. Several species of "Theobroma" produce edible seeds, notably cacao, cupuaçu, and mocambo. Cacao is commercially valued as the source of
Cacao yellow mosaic virus it can experimentally infect a number of other dicots including "Chenopodium amaranticolor", "Chenopodium quinoa", "Tetragonia expansa", "Vinca rosea", "Nicotinia clevelandii", and "Nicandra phsalodes". Cacao yellow mosaic virus Cacao yellow mosaic virus (CYMV) is a virus in the family Tymoviridae that infects cacao trees in Sierra Leone. CYMV, like other "Tymoviridae" are non-enveloped viruses, surrounded by a capsid approximately 30 nanometers wide. The viral capsid has T = 3 symmetry. "Tymoviridae" have positive-sense single-stranded RNA genomes approximately 6 kilobases long. In the cacao tree, CYMV infection leads to the appearance of large circular yellow blotches on the leaves. Infected trees are