STERCULIACEAE. 231 
Cota. Cola. 
(Family Sterculiaceae). 
Trees: subdeciduous. Twigs 
moderate, terete: pith relatively 
large, rounded, spongily excavated, 
orange. Buds solitary, sessile, 
conical, divergent, with stipular 
scales only. Leaf-scars alternate, 
nearly round, abruptly raised, 
large for the size of the twig: 
bundle-trace 1, round, large but 
indistinct: stipule-scars elongated. 
Leaves, if present, simple, oblan- 
ceolate, acuminate, on a _ petiole 
nearly as long as the blade. Some- 
times spelled Kola. 
Few words of recent introduc- 
tion are in such common popular 
use as the name of this tropical 
African tree, because of’ the ex- 
tent to which the active stimulant 
contained in its fruit is used or 
supposed to be used in summer 
beverages. Like the maté or Paraguay tea of South America, 
it enjoys the repute of enabling men to sustain long periods 
of exertion with little or no food. 
Twigs brown, stellate-scurfy when very young. C. acuminata. 
