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Garcinia kola
Also called Bitter Kola, False Kola
Garcinia kola, known as bitter kola, is a tropical forest tree of West and Central Africa whose seeds, fruit and bark are used in local medicine and trade. Cultivation is limited mainly because seeds are hard to germinate, so key to growing it is removing the seed coat and soaking seeds to break dormancy.
Garcinia kola (bitter kola, a name sometimes also used for G. afzelii) is a species of flowering plant belonging to the Mangosteen genus Garcinia of the family Clusiaceae (a.k.a. Guttiferae). It is found in Benin, Cameroon, The Gambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
The fruit, seeds ("bitter kola nuts") and bark of the plant have been used for centuries in folk medicine to treat ailments from coughs to fever. According to a report from the Center For International Forestry Research, Garcinia kola trade is still important to the indigenous communities and villages in Nigeria.
Despite the socio-economic importance of Garcinia kola, cultivation of the species is limited. Factors that have discouraged farmers from growing Garcinia kola include difficulties in germination that reduces seedling availability. Most productive trees were left in the wild when farmers cut plots out of the forest. Researchers have studied the germination problems of G. kola seeds and suggested various means of breaking its dormancy. However, there is still a need to investigate simple and practicable methods that farmers could easily adopt with low technological input.
G. kola seeds have both seed coat dormancy and physiological dormancy probably imposed by the chemicals in the seed. Seed coat dormancy of Garcinia kola can be reduced by removing the seed coat before sowing, while physiological dormancy can be reduced by soaking in water for 72 hours.
Garcinia assamica · Garcinia atroviridis · Indian Gamboge Tree · Garcinia celebica · Brindal Berry · Gourka · Garcinia forbesii · Achacha · Malabar Tamarind · Hanbury's garcinia · Wild Mammee · Garcinia
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Garcinia kola by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
