s:651:"%T Ecology and reproductive biology %A Simons, A.J. %X Much of the region of tropical America in which G. sepium is now distributed has undergone such a high degree of human disturbance that it is extremely difficult to do more than postulate its true native distribution. When the Spanish colonists arrived in Mexico and Central America they observed indigenous peoples using and cultivating G.sepium for a number of purposes including shade for cocoa trees. Indeed several of the vernacular names derive from these observations: xakyaab (Maya) cacahuananche (Nahuatl) and madre de cacao (Spanish) all meaning "mother of cacao" (Hughes 1987). ";