75 



as " .Sterculia aeuininata,'' and which, he said, gave the Cola nuts 

 of Sierra Leone. Xow, say MM. Chevalier and Perrot, the one Cola 

 of Benin is not that which gives the Sierra Leone nut, whereas the 

 plant, which Ventenat had from a garden in Mauritius, is : so that 

 Ventenat had des<^ribed as Sterculia niiida tlie true Sierra T^one 

 Cola without knowing that he was doing so, Init Palisot thinking 

 he was, was in reality fixing the nut of commerce on to a wrong 

 tree which he was calling Sterculia acuminata. Xot long after this 

 the Colas were separated from the Sterculias and Sterculia acu- 

 minata became Cola acuminata, while Sterculia nitida l^eeame 

 i'ola nitida. MM. Chevalier and Perrot maintain that, the last is 

 the right name for much that has passed as C. acuminata. 



According to this classification, C. nitida emljraces the Colas 

 having only two cotyledons, whereas C. acuminata refers to the 

 €olas having more than two cotyledons. 



The nuts with two cotyledons are reputed to be the best, and 

 the Natives of West Africa, where the Cola nut is largely consumed 

 prefer them to the polyeotyledonous ones, and pay more for them. 



Three varieties of C. nitida are mentioned, viz: 



1st. C nitida, alba which produces white nuts. 

 2nd, C. nitida, rubra which produces red nuts. 

 •3rd. C. nitida, mixta which produces both white and red nuts. 



The tree, Avhich we are dealing with at present, belongs to the 

 last variety ; for although by far the greater number of the nuts were 

 found to be of a light pink, almost white, tint, some were also 

 found of a deep ruby colour, or of a wine-purple colour. 



The piece of land, in which it grows, with three others of its 

 kind, adjoins the present vegetable growing plot ; it had been left 

 in recent years unfilled ; but in February last, it was taken in hand, 

 stumped, cleared and dug: the present crop is perhaps the response 

 to this beginning of cultivation. 



Be this as it may, tlie tree has given a crop, and following 

 upon the further cultivation and manuring which it has sinc^ re- 

 ceived, along with its three companions, we may reasonably look 

 forward to an increased crop towards the beginning of next year, 

 iis the Cola tree gives two crops a year. 



The Cola Xut. 



The fruit on the tree is a rugged warty green pod, some 2 to i 

 inches long, and a])out 2 inches in diameter — more or less egg- 

 shajK'd. but terminating with a point slanting to one side. 



The pods open a few hfturs after falling from the tree; but 

 several were collected already open, showing through a slit the 

 white waxy seeds inside. The number of the seeds varies, as far 

 as I have observed, from one to five, the latter rarely, and the 

 average being three. The sketch attached is a reproduction, as 



