Cola lepidota
Diagnostic description:
A small tree reaching 20 m tall and 20 cm diameter, often branching low, monoecious. Leaves compound digitate, 3-foliolate, leaflets up to 50 cm long, 20 cm broad, silver bellow. Flowers unisexual, in dense clusters of cymes on older wood (cauliflorous), calyx campanulate, 7-10 cm long, densely scaly outside. Fruits subcylindrical, about 20 cm long, 5 cm diameter, dark brownish-red, seeds dark purple, flattened, up to 5 cm diameter, with a thick, crisp wite aril.
Dispersal:
Animal-dispersed, especially by monkeys.
Habitat:
Common in secondary forest
Global Distribution:
Lower Guinea, from SE nigeria to Gabon.