| Cola rostrata | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malvales |
| Family: | Malvaceae |
| Genus: | Cola |
| Species: | C. rostrata |
| Binomial name | |
| Cola rostrata | |
Cola rostrata is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae, commonly known as monkey cola or cockroach cola. It is a tree found in the tropical rainforests of Cameroon, Nigeria and Gabon. [1]
Cola rostrata is a tree growing to a height of about 50 ft (15 m) with a broad crown. The leaves are palmately compound, with five to seven leaflets with elongated tips. The insides of the flowers are creamy yellow. [2] [3]
Cola rostrata is native to southeastern Nigeria, southern Cameroon and Gabon. It is a tropical lowland rainforest tree. [1]
Cola rostrata has sweet edible fruits, enjoyed by humans and also appreciated by monkeys, baboons and other primates. The edible part is the aril, the white fleshy mesocarp; the large, rough, brown, flattened seeds are not edible, unlike the seeds of the closely related cola nut ( Cola nitida ).[ citation needed ] The plant is not known to have traditional uses as a herbal remedy, but many members of the genus Cola do have pharmacological properties, and the plant was screened for potential drugs. An extract of the root bark was found to contain flavonoids, phenols, saponins, steroids, tannins and triterpenoids but no alkaloids. Triterpenoids are complex oils that may have interesting pharmacological activity. Saponins are haemolytic and tend to be toxic, but toxicological tests on the extract did not show toxicity when fed to mice. [1]
The kola nut is the seed of certain species of plant of the genus Cola, placed formerly in the cocoa family Sterculiaceae and now usually subsumed in the mallow family Malvaceae. These cola species are trees native to the tropical rainforests of Africa. Their caffeine-containing seeds are about 5 centimetres (2.0 in) across and are used as flavoring ingredients in various carbonated soft drinks, from which the name cola originates.
Saponins are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived secondary metabolites, being organic chemicals, that have a foamy quality when agitated in water and a high molecular weight. They are present in a wide range of plant species throughout the bark, leaves, stems, roots and flowers but found particularly in soapwort, a flowering plant, the soapbark tree, common corn-cockle, baby’s breath and soybeans. They are used in soaps, medicines, fire extinguishers, as dietary supplements, for synthesis of steroids, and in carbonated beverages. Saponins are both water and fat soluble, which gives them their useful soap properties. Some examples of these chemicals are glycyrrhizin and quillaia, a bark extract used in beverages.
The Congolian rainforests are a broad belt of lowland tropical moist broadleaf forests which extend across the basin of the Congo River and its tributaries in Central Africa.
Dacryodes edulis is a fruit tree in the family Burseraceae native to Africa. Its various regional names include safou, messa, plum (Cameroon), atanga, ube, elumi (Nigeria), African pear, bush pear, African plum, nsafu, bush butter tree, or butterfruit.
Barringtonia acutangula is a species of Barringtonia native to coastal wetlands in southern Asia and northern Australasia, from Afghanistan east to the Philippines, Queensland and the Northern Territory. Common names include freshwater mangrove, itchytree and mango-pine.
Allanblackia floribunda, known in English as 'tallow tree', is a species of flowering plant in the family Clusiaceae that has been long used in traditional African medicine to treat hypertension. It is a common understory tree in rainforests in western central Africa - from Sierra Leone to western Cameroon, and on into the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. The medium-sized tree is evergreen and dioecious. The wood is said to be resistant to termites but is not particularly durable. It is fairly easy to work and finishes well but it is of little commercial importance though it has appeared on the market in Liberia as "lacewood".
Oleanolic acid or oleanic acid is a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpenoid related to betulinic acid. It is widely distributed in food and plants where it exists as a free acid or as an aglycone of triterpenoid saponins.
Hederagenin is a triterpenoid which is a chemical constituent of the Hedera helix plant.
Pentaclethra macroloba is a large and common leguminous tree in the genus Pentaclethra native to the wet tropical areas of the northern Neotropics, which can form monocultural stands in some seasonally flooded habitats. It has giant, bipinnate leaves shaped like feathers. It uses seed dispersal by water to establish itself in new areas, having floating seeds that are left behind after the waters recede after floods or tides. It has hard timber which is not very resistant to rot in the tropics, but it can be treated, has a pretty pink-red colour when dry, and has a number of uses. Oil used in cosmetics is extracted from the large seeds. In the northern Amazon region the bark is used in herbal medicine as an antivenom, and in the Guianas the bark has been used as a fish poison. Despite their toxicity, the seeds are eaten by variegated squirrels, parrots and macaws, and serve as the nurseries of the larvae of the moth Carmenta surinamensis.
Picralima is a plant genus in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1896. It contains only one known species, Picralima nitida, native to tropical Africa.
Napoleonaea imperialis is a small, evergreen tropical West African tree in the family Lecythidaceae, native to Africa.
Maesa lanceolata, the false assegai, is a tree species that is widespread in the Afrotropics, including Madagascar. It occurs from the southern Arabian Peninsula, southwards to the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It grows on stream verges, river banks and forest verges, where it is often a pioneer plant.
Sapindus mukorossi, commonly known as Indian soapberry, washnut, ritha or Chinese soapberry, is a species of tree in the family Sapindaceae. It is a deciduous tree that grows in the lower foothills and midhills of the Himalayas at altitudes of up to 1,200 metres (4,000 ft). It is also native to western coastal Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Goa in India; as well as Indochina, southern China, Japan and Taiwan as known by its many indigenous peoples. It is tolerant to reasonably poor soil, can be planted around farmers’ homes, and one tree can produce 30 to 35 kilograms of fruit per year.
Plukenetia conophora, also called Nigerian walnut, and conophore, is a climbing shrub in the genus Plukenetia. It is not related to the walnut, being so named because its nuts bear a superficial resemblance to the walnut. It is native to tropical western and central Africa from Togo to Congo and in Sierra Leone. It is abundant in the Nigeria, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo. It prefers rain-forest hedge in half-shady places; low bush; secondary forest; plantations at elevations from 250–1,400 m (820–4,590 ft). Although it is well recorded in Sierra Leone, it is apparently not indigenous to Sierra Leone, since it is not recorded in Liberia and Ghana. Its presence in Sierra Leone is due to returning slaves for it is known to the Krio by its Yoruba (Nigerian) name. Plukenetia conophora is the only Plukenetia species native to West Africa or Central Africa. Other Plukenetia species are indigenous to other parts of Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and America.
Dracaena mannii Baker or small-leaved dragon tree, is a small to medium-sized tree, though recorded up to 30 m tall with stem to 2 m in diameter in Cameroon and Gabon. It occurs from Senegal to Angola along the African west coast, is widespread in tropical Africa and is found along the African east coast from Kenya to Kosi Bay in northern KwaZulu-Natal. It prefers lowland, submontane and montane forests which are either moist and evergreen, swampy or on coastal dunes. It is also found along forest edges, in clearings and on river banks from sea level to 1,800 metres. It is one of some 120 species currently recognised in its genus, which occur primarily in Africa and southern Asia with a single vagrant species in Central America. The species is named after Gustav Mann (1836–1916), a German botanist, who corresponded with John Gilbert Baker.
Balanites wilsoniana is a species of fruit-bearing tree from west and central Africa from the caltrop family (Zygophyllaceae).
Myrianthus arboreus, the giant yellow mulberry or monkey fruit or Nyankama, in the Akan twi language of Ghana, is a dioecious tropical tree in the genus Myrianthus. It lives in the tropical Central African countries of Central African Republic, Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Tanzania, and also Ghana in the West African countries. Its chromosome count is 2n = 28.
Strychnos icaja is a species belonging to the plant family Loganiaceae, native to West Tropical Africa. It is a very large, tropical rainforest liana which may attain a length of 100 m (330 ft).
Sacoglottis gabonensis, commonly known as bitterbark tree or cherry mahogany is a medium to large sized evergreen tree within the Humiriaceae family. It is the only species within the genus, Sacoglottis that is native to tropical Africa, another, guianensis Benth. being native to Amazonia. It occurs in rainforests or on sandy soils of Senegal eastwards to Angola in central Africa. It is traded locally and known in some countries under the name Ozouga.
Cyclamin is an organic compound that has been used by the pharmaceutical industry as an ingredient for nasal sprays.
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