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Accession Data:

Garcinia kola Heckel

  • Common Name: Bitter Kola
  • Family: Clusiaceae Juss.

  • Country of Origin: tropical West Africa
  • Habitat: lowland tropical forests

  • Description: An evergreen tree of hot, lowland tropical forests in West Africa. The large seeds (bitter kola nuts) contain caffeine and have many traditional medicinal uses, including treatments for infections, parasites, inflammation, diabetes, and as a laxative in effect">purgative. The stems are also chewed for medicinal purposes. Bitter Kola is unrelated to Kola Nut (Cola acuminata), although the two plants have some similar cultural uses.

Accession Data:

  • Accession # 202400090
  • Source: Trade Winds Fruit
  • Provenance:
    Seed from Trade Winds Fruit via Matt Opel, sown June 1, 2022
  • Accession Date: 10-31-2024
  • Bench: 6901 - Array 1, Tank 1
    • Currently: active - healthy
    • Qty: 1 confirmed on 02-27-2025
  • Restrictions:
    • IUCN Red List: Species Vulnerable or Habitat Critically Threatened

Classification:

  • Division: Magnoliophyta
  • Class: Magnoliopsida
  • SubClass: eurosid I
  • Order: Malpighiales
  • SubOrder:
  • Family: Clusiaceae
  • SubFamily: Clusioideae
  • Tribe: Garcinieae
  • SubTribe:

References (internal):

  • Medicinal Plants
  • EEB Greenhouse Holdings native to: Benin / Ivory Coast / Liberia / Nigeria / Sierra Leone / Central African Republic / Cameroon / Congo / Gabon / Gulf of Guinea Is. / Zaire / Angola

References (external):

data regenerated on Fri, 25 Apr 2025 15:12:01 -0400 [bcm v4.0]

Images:

No default accession image assigned

Additional images for this accession:

Click on thumbnails to enlarge

Current Accessions in the Clusiaceae

Subfamily
Tribe Clusieae

  • Clusia fluminensis 'Pedra Azul'
  • Clusia hammeliana W/C
  • Clusia orthoneura
  • Clusia rosea

Subfamily Clusioideae
Tribe Garcinieae

  • Garcinia kola
W/C = Wild Collected
= indicates flowering in past 14 days
= images available for this accession
= map available for this accession
= accession added within past 90 days
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