^ a -l XXVI. STERCULTACE-SI (MASTERS). 221 



Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Don ! Dr. Daniel!! Dr. Kirk! Fernando Po, Mann ! 

 Barter! St. Thomas, Don! Niger, Barter! Gaboon, Mann ! Prince's Island, Barter! 



Var. 0. Leaves broader and with shorter stalks than in the tvpe, and with the flowers 

 nearly double the size.— Hook. f. Fl. Nigrit. 233. Sterculia nitida, Vent. Jard. Malm. ii. «Jl 

 adnot. 8. verticillata, Solium, et Thonn. PL Guin. 240. S. macrocarpa, Don, Gen. 

 Syst. i. 515. Siphoniopsis monoica, Karsten, Fl. Columb. 139 t. 69. 



Var. 0. Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Jfzelius ! St. Thomas, Don I Fernando Po, 

 Mann ! Vogel ! 



Lower Guinea. Congo, Smith ! 



This tree furnishes the Cola nuts, so much esteemed by the natives for their bitter flavour, 

 and which are said to enhance the taste of whatever is eaten after them. It varies very much 

 in the size and form of the leaves and flowers, the appearance of the pods, the colour of 

 the seeds, and even the presence of from 2-5 separate and distinct cotyledons. Whether 

 these variations depend upon cultivation ornot.it is not easy to decide; whether or no, 

 numerous intermediate gradations between the different forms may be traced. The number 

 of cotyledons varies even in seeds taken from the same pod. Barter says that the nuts with 

 4 cotyledons are not so much prized as those with 2 in the native markets. Karsten gives 

 an admirable figure of the plant, but not having the fruit he mistook it and constituted of 

 it a new Terebinthaceous genus. The tree has been introduced into the W. Indies, S. America, 

 etc., the form usually cultivated being the broad-leaved, large-flowered one. 



The name Cola or Kolah seems to be also applied to several other Sterculiaceous seeds, 

 but those of C. acuminata and its varieties are those most prized in the native markets. 

 The " Bitter Cola" of Fernando Po is the produce of some other tree, some Gutiifera. 



Under this head, too, I would place, provisionally, specimens gathered by Barter at 

 Eppah, and by Mann at Old Calabar ! of which only leaves and imperfect fruits exist in 

 the Kew herbarium. The leafstalks are not so much thickened at the apex as in the true 

 C. acuminata, and the leaves themselves are thinner in texture, and in one instance show a 

 tendency towards lobing. The fruit is borne on thick axillary stalks, and consists of 2-4 

 sessile, oblong, acuminate, coriaceous, reddish carpels. 



Closely allied also to C. acuminata are some specimens from Abbeokuta, from Dr. Irving, 

 They differ principally in the membranous leaves and smaller flowers. The latter are in 

 terminal panicles and have the structure of Cola acuminata, but are scarcely i in. in 

 diam. In the absence of further information, the plant is merely mentioned in this place ; 

 it may ultimately prove to be a distinct species. 



2. C. cauliflora, Mast. A shrub or small tree, 10-20 ft. high (Mann). 

 Branches cylindrical, covered with a greyish-rugose bark. Leaves subsessile 

 or with stalks 2 in. in length, thickened at the apex; blades coriaceous, 

 glabrous, 3-8 in. long, oblong or elliptical, tapering at the base or somewhat 

 rounded, acuminate or rarely rounded at the apex, undulate or entire, 1- 

 costate, smaller veins arcuate-reticulate. Stipules lanceolate, | in. long, de- 

 ciduous. Flowers numerous, in clusters from out of the old wood ; pedicels 

 slender, |-1 in. long, as well as the calyx, covered with tine reddish down. 

 Calyx of the male flower larger than that of the hermaphrodite flower, broadly 

 campanulate, 5-Iobed ; lobes oblong-lanceolate. Column slender, shorter 

 than the calyx, surmounted by a ring of 2-lobed parallel anthers. Hermaphro- 

 dite fl. : Calyx similar, but smaller, $-h in. in diam. Anthers subsessile, 

 in a ring at the base of a roundish, oblong, downy, 3-4-lobed ovary. Stigmas 

 3-4, large, fleshy, reflexed. Fruit. . . . 



Upper Guinea. Gaboou river, river Kongui, and Ambas Bay, Mann ! 



The specimens from Ambas Bay have nearly sessile leaves and smaller flowers thau the 



