Theobroma cacao beans, along with other agricultural products, were brought back to Spain at that time, but it seems the beverage made from cacao was introduced to the Spanish court in 1544 by Kekchi Maya nobles brought from the New World to Spain by Dominican friars to meet Prince Philip. Within a century, chocolate had spread to France, England and elsewhere in Western Europe. Demand for this beverage led the French to establish cacao plantations in the Caribbean, while Spain subsequently developed their cacao plantations in their Venezuelan and Philippine colonies (Bloom 1998, Coe 1996). A painting by Dutch Golden Age artist
Witch's broom Witch's broom Witch's broom or witches' broom is a deformity in a woody plant, typically a tree, where the natural structure of the plant is changed. A dense mass of shoots grows from a single point, with the resulting structure resembling a broom or a bird's nest. It is sometimes caused by pathogens. Witch-broom disease caused by phytoplasmas is economically important in a number of crop plants, including the cocoa tree "Theobroma cacao", jujube ("Ziziphus jujuba") and the timber tree "Melia azedarach". Witch's broom can be caused by cytokinin, a phytohormone, interfering with an auxin-regulated bud. In normal plant function,