Coula edulis
| Coula edulis | ||||||||||||
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Illustration by Coula edulis |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Coula | ||||||||||||
| Baill. | ||||||||||||
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| Coula edulis | ||||||||||||
| Baill. |
Coula edulis is a large species of tree in the family Olacaceae, in the subfamily Anacalosoideae, and is the only species in the genus Coula . It grows in tropical West Africa . The round seeds are also known as African walnuts , like the similar seeds of Plukenetia conophora . They are not to be confused with the kola nut .
description
Coula edulis is an evergreen tree and grows to over 25 meters tall with a relatively dense crown. The trunk diameter reaches up to 80 centimeters. The bark is relatively smooth, thin and grayish-brown and easily cracked with age. The young twigs are hairy reddish.
The simple leaves that are shiny on the top and lighter on the underside are alternate and are up to 10-30 centimeters long. The stalked leaves are ovate to obovate or elliptical to oblong, they are glabrous and leathery. The leaf margin is whole, the tip is pointed or pointed to pointed, tailed. The nerve is alternately pinnate, stipules are missing.
Axillary and racemose - like inflorescences are formed. The green-yellowish, almost sessile, small flowers are hermaphroditic and four to five-fold with a double flower envelope. The small, leathery calyx is fused cup-shaped, mostly with entire margins or with small tips and it is also interpreted as the fused bracts (calyculus). The egg-shaped, plump, pubescent petals are free and pointed and soon sloping, they are slightly keeled on the inside. There are up to 20 stamens of unequal length in three circles. The wide ovary is upper constant with a short, conical stylus with a smaller capitate scar .
Ellipsoidal, green-reddish to later dark purple, smooth stone fruits with a thin pericarp are formed, which contain a large and round, hard, thick-shelled, brown and relatively smooth, slightly bumpy stone core (nut). The fruits are about 3–4 centimeters in size, the walnut-like kernels are about 1 centimeter smaller, they contain a large endosperm and a very small embryo .
Systematics
The first description of the genus Coula and the species Coula edulis was in 1862 by Henri Ernest Baillon in Adansonia 3: 61-64. Synonyms are Coula cabrae De Wild. & T.Durand and Coula utilis S.Moore .
use
The kernels (nuts) are edible raw or cooked, the hard wood can be used for various purposes.
literature
- K. Kubitzki , J. Kuijt, B. Hansen: The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Vol. XII: Flowering Plants Eudicots , Springer, 2015, ISBN 978-3-319-09295-9 , p. 65.
- Louis P. Ronse De Craene: Floral Diagrams. Cambridge University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-49346-8 , p. 156 f.
- Jules Janick, Robert E. Paull: The Encyclopedia of Fruit and Nuts. CABI, 2008, ISBN 978-0-85199-638-7 , p. 563.
- Quentin Meunier, Carl Moumbogou, Jean-Louis Doucet: Les arbres utiles du Gabon. Presses Agronomiques de Gembloux, 2015, ISBN 978-2-87016-134-0 , p. 252 f, limited preview in the Google book search.
Web links
- Coula edulis at Useful Tropical Plants.