One of the most exciting plants at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, MI is the cocoa tree. It is strikingly tall and skinny. This tree grows in the understorey of the taller trees.
I probably wouldn't have noticed it at all if it weren't for the cocoa tree's peculiar habit of sprouting flowers from its trunk. (If you look closely at the photo, you can see many little flowers hanging down from all heights of the tree trunk.)
A volunteer at Meijer Gardens pointed out the green pod forming where a flower had formerly been, high up on the trunk. (Half-hidden by the right-hand half of the "y" shaped branching.) It is the first cocoa tree fruit/pod at Meijer Gardens! When ripe, it will be about the size of a football.
More facts about the cocoa tree's growth, uses, and history can be found at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii. Good photos of the cocoa tree are at this site, too.
According to the National Confectioners Association, US chocolate manufacturers use 3.5 million pounds of whole milk every day to make chocolate. Visit the National Confectioners Association website to learn more about the history of manufacturing chocolate goods from cocoa seeds.
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