Drugs and Medicinal Plants. 



[May, 1912. 



Ballayi (Cornu), C. vertieillata (Thonn, 

 in Schum).) Stapf, C, sphaericarpa A. 

 Chev. 



The Cola nitida is the species most 

 generally cultivated (French Guinea, 

 Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gold 

 Coast) and the one supplying nearly all 

 commercial nuts. Its seeds always have 

 two cotyledons. It presents a number 

 of variations which Mr. A. Chevalier 

 groups into four sub-sections : C- rubra, 

 which exclusively supplies big-red nuts ; 

 C. alba, which supplies only big white 

 nuts, C- Mixta, the most widespread 

 form in the cultivated state, which yields 

 red nuts, white nuts and sometimes pink 

 nuts mixed on the same tree : C. Pillida, 

 which lives in the forest on the Ivory 

 Coast and which supplies small-sized 

 nuts, often pink in hue. 



The Kola trees, which produce good 

 nuts, are trees of the habit of 

 our apple trees, with isolated; simple, 

 lanceolate, acuminate leaves which are 

 glabrous and leathery, in the adult state, 

 more or less glossy above, averaging 4 to 

 6 inches in length by 1*2 to Z inches wide. 

 The petiole, more or less long, almost 

 cylindrical has motile inflations at both 

 ends, which by swelling, regulate the 

 inclination of the leaf according to the 

 light it receives. 



The flowers, grouped in compound 

 clusters, have no corolla. Their calyx is 

 creamy white, but inside, at the bottom 

 of the tube, it exhibits a blackish purple 

 spot, extending half way up the lobes. 

 Some trees produce male flowers ex- 

 clusively ; the majority of the indi viduals 

 produce a large number of inflorescences 

 wholly male, and then some clusters with 

 hermaphrodite flowers at the base and 

 male flowers at the top. Some plants 

 have male and hermaphrodite flowers 

 intermingled on all their inflorescences, 

 and at times a cluster of male flowers is 

 surmounted by one or more hermaphro- 

 dite flowers. It is very rare to find 

 Kola trees bearing more hermaphrodite 

 flowers than male. Messrs. Chevalier 

 and Perrot state they never found a 

 Kola tree carrying exclusively her- 

 maphrodite flowers, They also draw 



attention to the fact that when the Cola 

 nitida grows under unfavourable circum- 

 stances, either under the thick canopy 

 of the forest, or at altitudes exceeding 

 800 metres (2,600 ft.) above sea level, it 

 produces only male flowers. 



The number of seeds (nuts) per fruit 

 (pod) is very variable ; from 1 to 12 are 

 found ; 5, 7 or 9 are the most frequent. 

 A single flower can produce from 1 to 7 

 follicles, or 30 to 200 grammes (1 to 7 oz.) 

 of fresh nuts. Rarely, however, are more 

 than 20 to 30 groups of follicles, which 

 have simultaneously attained complete 

 development observed on one and the 

 same tree. 



The seed is provided with a white in- 

 tegument which the natives remove after 

 the harvest. What we call the Kola nut 

 is the seed without this integument, 

 and consisting only of the embryo 

 because the albumen is wanting. The 

 number of cotyledons, thick and fleshy, 

 possessed by this embryo, ranges from 2 

 to 7. We have seen that in C. nitida 

 and all its varieties, i.e., in the cultivated 

 strains, it is constantly two. 



In almost all works on the Kola tree 

 this tree is said to yield several harvests 

 per year. This is quite wrong ; in reality 

 there is only one season per year for 

 each region, during which the greater 

 portion of the fruit ripens. 



The Kola trees grow very slowly, 

 whatever the botanical species and the 

 region of cultivation. In the Ivory Coast 

 forest, a Kola tree requires 25 to 30 years 

 to reach full development. In French 

 Guinea it rarely produces any flowers 

 before being 8 to 10 years old, and only 

 about the fifteenth year do the trees 

 give any appreciable yield. The pro- 

 duction of the same tree varies greatly 

 from year to year. A yield of 10 kilo- 

 grammes (22 lb.) of fresh nuts appears to 

 be the maximum obtainable in one year 

 from the Cola nitida cultivated under 

 the best conditions. 



In favourable soils the Kola tree can 

 live to a very advanced age. According 

 to the natives of Lower Dahomey, Cola 

 acuminata lives nearly as long as four 



