Cola clavata (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Timber
Fuel
Ornamental
Conservation status

Cola clavata Mast.

Protologue: Oliv., Fl. trop. Afr. 1: 222 (1868).

Family: Sterculiaceae (APG: Malvaceae)

Origin and geographic distribution

Cola clavata is distributed in Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique.

Uses

The wood of Cola clavata is used for construction, tool handles, bows, animal traps, fencing and as firewood. The tree is suitable for providing shade and as a wayside tree.

Properties

The wood of Cola clavata is heavy, hard, tough and termite-resistant.

Description

• Evergreen, dioecious medium-sized tree up to 30 m tall; bole often branched low; bark brownish grey to pale green, smooth; branchlets first stellate-pubescent but soon glabrous.
• Leaves alternate, simple and entire; stipules c. 3 mm long, caducous; petiole up to 6.5 cm long, slightly swollen at base and apex; blade narrowly obovate to elliptical, up to 13(–23) cm × 6(–10) cm, base cuneate, apex obtuse to obtusely acuminate, leathery, glabrous, pinnately veined with c. 10 pairs of lateral veins.
• Inflorescence an axillary fascicle on 1–3-year-old branches.
• Flowers unisexual, regular; pedicel 5–10 mm long, pubescent; calyx stellate-pubescent; petals absent.
• Fruit consisting of 1–3 club-shaped follicles c. 2 cm × 1 cm, narrowing into a stalk-like base, stellate-pubescent, 1-seeded.
• Seed oblong-ellipsoid, c. 2 cm × 1.5 cm, shiny brown.

Other botanical information

Cola comprises about 100 species and is restricted to continental Africa. Some other Cola spp. are used as a source of wood in East Africa.

Cola discoglypremnophylla

Cola discoglypremnophylla Brenan & A.P.D.Jones is a small tree up to 10 m tall occurring in riverine and lowland forest in Tanzania and perhaps Mozambique; its wood is used for poles, tool handles, animal traps and firewood, and it is also a shade tree.

Cola uloloma

The wood of Cola uloloma Brenan, occurring in lowland forest in Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi, is used for poles, tool handles, firewood and charcoal production; this species is also used as a shade tree.

Cola usambarensis

Cola usambarensis Engl. is a small tree up to 15 m tall occurring in submontane forest in Tanzania. Its wood is hard, heavy and tough, and is used for poles, animal traps, tool handles, firewood and charcoal production; rope and medicines are also obtained from the tree.

Cola lukei

Low-altitude populations of Cola usambarensis have sometimes been confounded with Cola lukei Cheek, a tree from eastern Tanzania, up to 10 m tall and sometimes coppiced for poles. Cola lukei is classified as endangered in the IUCN Red list of threatened species, due to habitat loss and growing local population pressure.

Ecology

Cola clavata occurs in riverine forest and forest edges up to 600 m altitude.

Management

Cola clavata is recorded to be sometimes cultivated on farms in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania, but details are lacking.

Genetic resources

Cola clavata is classified as data deficient in the IUCN red list of threatened species, indicating that there is inadequate information to assess its risk of extinction.

Prospects

Although the wood of Cola clavata is considered to have favourable properties, too little information on the wood properties is available to properly evaluate its prospects for increased use as a source of timber.

Major references

• Lovett, J.C., Ruffo, C.K., Gereau, R.E. & Taplin, J.R.D., 2006. Field guide to the moist forest trees of Tanzania. [Internet] Centre for Ecology Law and Policy, Environment Department, University of York, York, United Kingdom. http://www.york.ac.uk/res/celp/webpages/projects/ecology/tree%20guide/guide.htm. April 2006.

• Thulin, M., 1999. Sterculiaceae. In: Thulin, M. (Editor). Flora of Somalia. Volume 2. Angiospermae (Tiliaceae-Apiaceae). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. pp. 21–37.

• Wild, H. & Gonçalves, M.L., 1979. Sterculiaceae. In: Mendes, E.J. (Editor). Flora de Moçambique. No 27. Junta de Investigações Científicas do Ultramar, Lisbon, Portugal. 57 pp.

Other references

• Bandeira, S., 1998. Cola clavata. In: IUCN. 2006 Red list of threatened species. [Internet] http://www.iucnredlist.org. September 2006.

• Cheek, M., 2002. A new species of Cola (Sterculiaceae) from the Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. Kew Bulletin 57: 417–422.

• Cheek, M., 2003. Cola lukei. In: IUCN. 2006 Red list of threatened species. [Internet] http://www.iucnredlist.org. September 2006.

• CJB & SANBI, 2006. African Flowering Plants Database. [Internet] Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève (CJB) and South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Pretoria, South Africa. http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/bd/africa/index.php. September 2006.

• Muir, C., 1998. A study to investigate the factors affecting the distribution of Cola usambarensis, an endangered endemic tree of the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. [Internet] A study to investigate the factors affecting the distribution of Cola usambarensis, an endangered endemic tree of the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. http://easternarc.or.tz/downloads/E-Usam/Cola%20usambarensis%20MSc.pdf December 2007.

• Wild, H., 1961. Sterculiaceae. In: Exell, A.W. & Wild, H. (Editors). Flora Zambesiaca. Volume 1, part 2. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London, United Kingdom. pp. 517–564.

Author(s)

• M. Brink, PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Correct citation of this article

Brink, M., 2007. Cola clavata Mast. In: Louppe, D., Oteng-Amoako, A.A. & Brink, M. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. Accessed 31 March 2025.

• See the Prota4U database.