Garcinia kola

There are more than 600 species in the genus Garcinia throughout the tropics. Most of the species within this genus are upperstorey tree species, with some of them large enough to the extent that they are useful for timber. However, only 16 of these species are found in West Africa. Garcinia kola ( Heckel ) and its relatives, including G. livingstonei , G. gnetoides , G. staudtii , G. smeathemannii , G. ovalivolia , G. brevipediellata and G. mannii , are found in Nigeria as well as across the humid lowland plains of West Africa. Among all these Garcinia species, G. kola is by far the most popular. G. kola Heckel , popularly called bitter kola, is a very important edible fruit and medicinal tree species distributed in moist tropical forests of West and Central Africa. It is also known as false kola (mainly due to the absence of the stimulants that characterise the kola nut seeds) and male kola (due to its reported aphrodisiac properties). G. kola has been referred to as ‘wonder plant’ because almost every part of the tree has been found to be of medicinal importance. Thus, the species is a multi‐purpose tree, similar to kola nuts ( Cola nitida ).