Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Sterculiaceous \Ster*cu`li*a"ceous\, a. [NL. Sterculia, the
   typical genus, fr. L. Sterculius the deity that presided over
   manuring, from stercus dung. So called because one of the
   original species is fetid.] (Bot.)
   Of or pertaining to a natural order ({Sterculiace[ae]}) of
   polypetalous exogenous plants, mostly tropical. The cacao
   ({Theobroma Cacao}) is the most useful plant of the order.