The Culture of Cola: Social and Economic Aspects of a West African Domesticate :: Botany

The Culture of skunk Social and Economic Aspects of a West African DomesticateThe argona of study known as economic botany is a wide-ranging angiotensin-converting enzyme, but is most a great deal concerned with the relationship between humans and the plants they utilize for food and music and raw materials for shelter, tools and other material needs. Less often mentioned, although not whole neglected, are those plants that may be seen primarily as being of less(prenominal) obvious and direct material benefit to the people who use them. The orchis of the locoweed tree provides an example of such a plant product, one of limited clumpritional or material use, but being of really great social richness. Among the various cultures using it, the cola nut plays main(prenominal) cultural roles in virtually every aspect of life, from birth to death. The cola tree belongs to the Sterculiaceae family and is indigenous to West Africa, especially the nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia, bead Coast and Nigeria, but is found eastward to Gabon and the Congo River Basin. The genus Cola is comprised of active forty species, but the most commonly used are Cola verticillata, C. anomala and C. nitida, with the latter two being of the greatest economic importance (Lovejoy, 1980). Cola is related to the cacao tree, but is taller (up to 30-40 feet), and has smooth bark with longitudinal cracks and dense foliage with large, leathery oblongate leaves alternate on large petioles. It has infinitesimal cup-shaped flowers borne in clusters on short pedicels in the leaf axils. Both male person and hermaphroditic flowers are found, although the latter are functionally female since the anthers are not pollen-shedding. The fruits are borne on young branches and form a angular cluster of pods, usually numbering five, with each follicle bearing 4-10 chestnut-sized seeds. C. nitida is dicotyledonous, while C. acuminata has more than than two cotyledons, and may have six or more (McIlr oy, 1963). Traditionally, the nut is used as a masticatory in a manner correspondent to that of betel-nut. Its popularity is due to the large amounts of caffeine and smaller amounts of theobromine, kolatin and glucose it contains, all of which act as stimulants and may be mildly addictive (Lovejoy, 1980). Its stimulant effect withal makes it useful as an appetite suppressant, and it was often used as cast-iron rations for armies on the march, allowing large distances to be traveled while carrying a negligible of food (Sundstrom, 1966).