Theobroma cacao priests lancing their ear lobes (autosacrifice) and covering the cacao with blood as a suitable sacrifice to the gods. The cacao beverage as ritual was used only by men, as it was believed to be toxic for women and children. The first European knowledge about chocolate came in the form of a beverage which was first introduced to the Spanish at their meeting with Moctezuma in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1519. Cortés and others noted the vast quantities of this beverage the Aztec emperor consumed, and how it was carefully whipped by his attendants beforehand. Examples of cacao
Dresden Botanical Garden unusual "Quercus phellos" as well as "Corydalis nobilis", "Hamamelis", rhododendrons, magnolias, and so forth; a systematic section; an alpine garden collecting a variety of European high mountain plants, including gentian ("Gentiana"), species of saxifrage ("Saxifraga"), "Dianthus caryophyllus", numerous cruciferous plants and primroses; and a garden that contains poisonous, curative, and medicinal plants. The garden also contains five greenhouses of about 1,000 m² total area, containing some 3,000 species, as well as an aquatic greenhouse for "Victoria cruziana" and plants from tropical America including "Ananas comosus", "Tillandsia usneoides", "Theobroma cacao", epiphytic bromeliads, etc. The Great Tropical House (Paläotropis) contains tropical flora