Several authors rate it as one of the most promising fruits among the rich Amazonian flora, of which 271 fruit species have been described. Botanical description Theobroma grandiflorum is an arboreal species which reaches 15 to 20m in height, but less than 8 m when cultivated. It exhibits trichomic branching. 25 to 35 cm long and 6 to 10 cm wide, with a bright-green, pubescent upper surface and grey underside. It has a cymose inflorescence with three to five flowers, five dark-purple subtrapezoidal petals, a calyx with five triangular sepals, five stamens with bilocular anthers, five staminodes and a pentagonal superior ovary with five locules containing numerous seed primordia.
Pollination is carried out mainly by ants and aphids, with vespertine anthesis.
The fruit occurs in the form of a drupe and is strong and pleasant smelling. The endocarp is white, soft and sour-tasting, containing 25 to 50 superposed seeds in five rows. The ripe fruit is harvested when it falls to the ground. It is grown in small domestic gardens and nurseries in eastern Amazonia in Brazil. Twenty different species of Theobroma have been described but usually only 12 are accepted.