Taxonomy
Cola suboppositifolia Cheek
Media
SUMMARY
Shrub or small tree 2 - 6 m tall, stem c. 2 cm diam. at breast height, unbranched to 2 - 3 m tall, then repeatedly branched. Leafy stems 1.5 (- 2) mm wide, terete, or with one or two shallow longitudinal ridges, smooth, greyish white, lenticels inconspicuous, glabrous; sometimes with 2 - 3 persistent, puberulent, trianglar bud- scales 2 x 1.5 mm; internodes generally 3 - 5.5 cm long, but 0.6 - 0.7 cm between sub-opposite leaves. Leaves subopposite or alternate, leaf-blades simple, ovate or elliptic, 12.5 - 18.5(- 23) x 5 - 7.5(- 9) cm, gradually acuminate, acumen 1 - 1.5(- 3) x 0.3 - 0.4 cm, base abruptly attenuate, margin slightly revolute, midrib concave, not grooved, below, secondary nerves 5(- 7) pairs, anastomosing c. 1 cm from the margin, lower order nerves conspicuously raised below, pale yellow, glossy below, pale grey-green above; petiole lacking pulvini, terete, 7 - 10(- 13) x 1.5(- 2) mm, drying black, glabrous. Stipules highly caducous, narrowly triangular, 1.5 - 2.5 x 0.3 mm, puberulent. Inflorescences cauliflorous or ramiflorous, but always borne on stems below the leaves from slightly raised, apparently perennial burrs, each bearing a sparse fascicle of up to 4 flowers, sometimes together with flower buds in various stages of development. Basal bracts 5 - 9, forming a rosette c. 2 mm wide at the base of the pedicel, sometimes 1 - 3 of these bracts ascend the pedicel to the point of articulation, bracts ovate or elliptic, 0.5 - 1 x 0.3 mm, puberulent; pedicel 2 cm long, 0.3 mm wide, articulated midway; indumentum dark brown puberulent, of short simple hairs intermixed with larger stellate hairs 0.1 - 0.2 mm wide and tall. Flowers 1 - 1.8 cm diam., very pale yellow-orange outside, inner pale yellow cream, scent not recorded; perianth divided by about /4 its length into 5(- 4) lobes, initially campanulate, the lobes becoming patent and lengthening as the flower ages; lobes ovate-elliptic, 6 - 9 x 2.5 - 3.25 mm, apex acute, base c. 2 mm wide, margin with a membranous, highly undulate band 0.3 - 0.5(- 1) mm, outer surface with highly scattered brown or white 6-armed stellate hairs 0.1 - 0.15 mm wide, or glabrous, inner surface glabrous densely micro-papillate in the basal half to two- thirds, the papillate zone stopping abruptly, or extending as a tongue into the smooth distal zone. Male flowers with androgynophore slender, terete, tapering slightly from the base, 2 - 3.5 x 0.2 mm, glabrous apart from a few stellate hairs at the very base. Anthers 10, uniseriate, bilocular, 0.36 - 0.5 x 0.25 mm. Gynoecium not seen. Female flowers with 10 uniseriate, bilocular, apparently indehiscent anthers at the base of the ovary. Ovary of (1 -)2 (- 3) narrowly to broadly ovoid carpels 3 x 1 - 2.5 mm wide; style 0.75 - 1 mm long, usually recurved, densely dull yellow-brown pubescent; stigmas capitate, glossy black. Fruit with (1 -)2 fruitlets on a woody pedicel 2.6 - 3 x 0.1 cm, articulated 1.5 - 1.8 cm from the base. Fruitlets yellow, pendent, cylindrical, 7 - 8 x 1.8 - 2.5 cm, the apex with rostrum 0.5 - 1.2 x 0.3 - 0.6 cm, the base with a stipe 1.5 - 2 x 0.4 - 0.5 cm, outer surface reticulate, the cells isodiametric or longitudinally extended polygons 0.6 - 1.2 x 0.8 - 1.8 cm, the walls of the reticulum c. 1 mm high, pericarp papery, 0.1 mm thick, glabrous. Seeds 4 - 5 per fruitlet, irregularly 1 - 2-faceted, subisodiametric, but usually broader than long, c. 1.4 x 1.8 cm, seed-coat matted brown fibrous, hypocotyl glabrous.
Source: Cheek M. 2002. Three new species of Cola (Sterculiaceae) from western Cameroon. Kew bulletin 57: 403 - 415.