What is most likely the author's intent by including all the detail about the appearance of the cacao tree? The author wanted to convince the reader to grow his or her own cacao trees because they are not too large.

The author wanted to convince the reader to grow his or her own cacao trees because they are not too large.

The author intended to create irony by emphasizing how such a simple tree produces such a popular product.

The author intended to create irony by emphasizing how such a simple tree produces such a popular product.

The author intended to demonstrate how much of nature is undiscovered but could potentially hold the key to financial success.

The author intended to demonstrate how much of nature is undiscovered but could potentially hold the key to financial success.

The author intended to draw the reader's attention away from the process of making chocolate to the nature involved in chocolate.

b?

The author intended to create irony by emphasizing how such a simple tree produces such a popular product.

Explanation:

Yes, the above is the likely reason why the author included the cacao tree details in  his excerpt. To him, even though people tends to love the chocolate, they don't have an idea why the product is popular and from which tree is the raw material for its production is gotten. To him, putting those details helps his reader to know that, the popular product is actually produced by a simple tree which is unknown but called Cacao.

C. Ashley asked, "Do we have homework tonight?"

Explanation:

If you start by telling who said it, use a comma and then the first quotation mark.

Punctuation always goes inside the quotation marks if it is a direct quote. If you use an exclamation point of a question mark, do not use a comma.

Dialogue begins with a capitalized word, no matter where in the sentence it begins.

https://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/proper-punctuation-for-quotes/