Theobromine Theobromine Theobromine, formerly known as xantheose, is a bitter alkaloid of the cacao plant, with the chemical formula CHNO. It is found in chocolate, as well as in a number of other foods, including the leaves of the tea plant, and the kola nut. It is classified as a xanthine alkaloid, others of which include theophylline and caffeine. The compounds differ in that caffeine has an extra methyl group (see under Pharmacology section). Despite its name, the compound contains no bromine—"theobromine" is derived from "Theobroma", the name of the genus of the cacao tree (which itself is made up of
Tree and frost, and the seed germinates in the spring. Pine cones may similarly be hoarded by red squirrels, and grizzly bears may help to disperse the seed by raiding squirrel caches. The single extant species of Ginkgophyta ("Ginkgo biloba") has fleshy seeds produced at the ends of short branches on female trees, and "Gnetum", a tropical and subtropical group of gymnosperms produce seeds at the tip of a shoot axis. The earliest trees were tree ferns, horsetails and lycophytes, which grew in forests in the Carboniferous period. The first tree may have been "Wattieza", fossils of which have been found