Cola urceolata — Edible Plant Database

What to Eat

Edible parts: Aril, Fruit, Seeds, Nuts

The fruit and other edible parts of the plant are eaten raw or cooked in its native range.

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. It grows in forests including seasonally flooded forests and in disturbed sites.

Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, CAR, Congo DR, Congo R, Gabon,

Countries: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Comoros, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

A small shrub. It grows 2-3 m high. The leaves are oval and taper to both ends. They are wavy. The flowers are 5 mm long and have no petals. The fruit are 10 cm long. There are 3-5 seeds in each bright red pod. The young pods are green. The edible aril around the seeds is eaten.

Wikipedia

Source ↗

Cola urceolata, also known as bemange, bokosa, eboli, egwasa, ikaie, lekukumu, lungandu, lusakani, matadohohu, nesunguna, ngbilimo, ngono, and zimonziele, is a flowering shrub in the family Malvaceae. The specific epithet (urceolata) comes from Latin urceus (= pitcher, jug) and means "urn-shaped".

Production

In Central African Republic flowers have been recorded from January to March and fruit from June to September.

Notes

Also put in the family Sterculiaceae.

Names & Synonyms

Balembe, Limbabaliyekondo, Losakanu, Nzanzainza, Nzanzalinza, Ongando oitchi, Sakanu, Tongombo

References (6)

Danforth, R.M., & Boren, P.D., 1997, Congo Native fruits. Twenty-five of the best. Privately published. p 49
Dibong, S. D., et al, 2011, Inventory and Biodiversity of species edible wild fruits sold in the markets of Douala, Cameroon. International Journal of Applied Biology and Pharmaceutical Technology. 2(3).
Liengola, I. B., 2001, A contribution to the study of native edible plants by the Turumbu and Lokele of the Tshopo District, Province Orientale, D. R. Congo. Syst. Geogr. Pl. 71:687-698
Mosango M., Szafranski F., 1985, Plantes sauvages à fruits comestibles dans les environs de Kisangani (Zaïre). In: Journal d'agriculture traditionnelle et de botanique appliquée, 32e année, pp. 177-190
Termote, C., et al, 2011, Eating from the wild: Turumbu, Mbole and Bali traditional knowledge of non-cultivated edible plants, District Tshopo, DRCongo, Gen Resourc Crop Evol. 58:585-618
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew