STEKCULIACEAE. 



'231 



COLA. Cola. 

 ( Family Ster culiaceae ) . 



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 mate 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. 



