Cola griseiflora (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Fruit
Medicinal
Fibre
Conservation status

Cola griseiflora De Wild.

Protologue: Miss. Ém. Laurent 1: 408 (1907).

Family: Sterculiaceae (APG: Malvaceae)

Vernacular names

• Angongolia (Sw).

Origin and geographic distribution

Cola griseiflora occurs in Gabon and DR Congo.

Uses

The bark is used for tying. The leaf is used as a condiment. The fruit is eaten, and the seed is sucked for the bitter sap. A maceration of the pounded bark is used as a wash to facilitate childbirth. A decoction of the leaf is drunk to strengthen people recovering from any disease.

Description

Medium-sized tree up to 22(–35) m tall; bole up to 30 cm in diameter; outer bark greyish or yellowish grey, longitudinally corrugated; branches glabrous. Leaves alternate, simple and entire; stipules narrowly linear, c. 10 mm long, early caducous, puberulous, margins ciliate; petiole up to 16 cm long, pubescent to glabrous; blade oblong-elliptical, sometimes obovate, 6–30 cm × 2–16 cm, base long-cuneate, apex sharply acuminate, papery or leathery, reddish brown to grey-beige, upper surface glabrous, lower surface sparsely hairy, pinnately veined with 7 pairs of lateral veins. Inflorescence a fascicle, axillary or on older wood; bracts ovate, c. 2 mm long, hairy. Flowers unisexual or bisexual, regular, brownish or greenish white; pedicel slender, 10–29 mm long, jointed below the middle; calyx short campanulate, with calyx tube 1–2 mm long and 5(–6) narrowly oblong lobes 6–7 mm long, outside with short simple hairs mixed with stellate hairs, inside papillose; male flowers with androphore 3–5 mm long, thickened at the base, slender at the top, carrying 1 whorl of 10 thecae; female and bisexual flowers with superior ovary consisting of 3–4 carpels, styles 2–3 mm long. Fruit consisting of follicles; follicles sessile, almost ovoid, 6 cm × 3.5 cm, with a 3–4 mm long beak, stellate hairy, 3–7-seeded. Seeds plano-convex, 20 mm × 15 mm.

Cola comprises about 125 species and is restricted to continental Africa.

Ecology

Cola griseiflora occurs up to 800 m altitude in half-deciduous or evergreen rain-forest, rarely in swamp or gallery forest.

Genetic resources

It is not known whether Cola griseiflora is threatened by genetic erosion, but it occurs in habitats which are under pressure in Central Africa.

Prospects

Cola griseiflora is a local source of tying material, food and traditional medicine. As information on its properties is lacking, it is difficult to assess the prospects of this species, but in view if its limited distribution, it is unlikely to become important.

Major references

• Germain, R. & Bamps, P., 1963. Sterculiaceae. In: Robyns, W., Staner, P., Demaret, F., Germain, R., Gilbert, G., Hauman, L., Homès, M., Jurion, F., Lebrun, J., Vanden Abeele, M. & Boutique, R. (Editors). Flore du Congo belge et du Ruanda-Urundi. Spermatophytes. Volume 10. Institut National pour l’Étude Agronomique du Congo belge, Brussels, Belgium. pp. 205–316.

• Hallé, N., 1961. Sterculiacées. Flore du Gabon. Volume 2. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France. 150 pp.

• Kawukpa, U.U. & Angoyo, M.M., 1994. Plantes utiles chez les Batiabetuwa de l’Ile de Mbie, Kisangani, Zaire. African Study Monographs 15(2): 49–68.

• Nyakabwa, M., Bola, M. & Vasolene, K., 1990. Plantes sauvages alimentaires chez les Kumu de Masako à Kisangani (Zaïre). African Study Monographs 11(2): 75–86.

• Nyakabwa, M. & Dibaluka, M., 1990. Plantes médicinales cultivées dans la zone de Kabondo à Kisangani (Zaire). African Study Monographs 11(2): 87–99.

Other references

• Brenan, J.P.M., 1979. The genus Cola - its taxonomic-economic relationships. In: Kunkel, G. (Editor). Taxonomic aspects of African economic botany. Proceedings of the 9th plenary meeting of AETFAT. Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain. pp. 49–52.

• Cheek, M. & Dorr, L., 2007. Sterculiaceae. In: Beentje, H.J. & Ghazanfar, S.A. (Editors). Flora of Tropical East Africa. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 134 pp.

• CJB & SANBI, 2009. 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/ musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/ recherche.php. August 2009.

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., 2010. Cola griseiflora De Wild. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Brink, M. & Achigan-Dako, E.G. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>.

Accessed 31 March 2025.

• See the Prota4U database.