Theobroma cocoa and chocolate. "Theobroma" species are used as food plants by the larvae of some moths of the genus "Endoclita", including "E. chalybeatus", "E. damor", "E. hosei" and "E. sericeus". The larvae of another moth, "Hypercompe muzina", feed exclusively on "Theobroma cacao". An active ingredient of cacao, theobromine, is named for the genus. 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
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