''Cola greenwayi'', commonly known as hairy cola or Zulu coshwood, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the family

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar o ...

. It was first described in 1956 by the British botanist

John Patrick Micklethwait Brenan John Patrick Micklethwait Brenan (1917-1985) was a British botanist who became director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Brenan was born on 19 June 1917 in Chislehurst and died on 26 September 1985 at Kew. A funeral requiem was held on 3 O ...

. It is native to southeastern Africa.

Description

''Cola greenwayi'' is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree growing to around , either

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy i ...

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproducti ...

. The smaller branches and twigs are brown and densely hairy at first. The leaves are alternate, purplish-brown when young and dark green and leathery when older, up to . They are stalked, simple, elliptical or oblanceolate, and have prominent veins. There is a hairy swelling known as a

pulvinus A pulvinus (pl. ''pulvini'') is a joint-like thickening at the base of a plant leaf or leaflet that facilitates growth-independent movement. Pulvini are common, for example, in members of the bean family Fabaceae (Leguminosae) and the prayer plan ...

at the base of each leaf-blade, which acts as a hinge. The flowers are in clusters growing in the axils of the leaves. They have small, rusty-brown, hairy bracts. The

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

has four to six lobes and there are no petals. The four to five

carpel Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) '' pistils' ...

s turn yellowish-orange when ripe, making a sub-globose fruit, hairy at first, and later with a thin, brittle rind. It usually contains one or two seeds.

Distribution and habitat

This tree is native to southeastern Africa, its range extending from Kenya and Tanzania southwards to Zimbabwe and Mozambique,

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

and eastern

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...

. Its habitat is dense forest, often on steep slopes, from sea level up to about . It is also part of the typical flora of the

Southern African Sand Forest Southern African Sand Forest is a sand forest, or a subtropical forest plant community of the tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests biome. It grows on ancient sand dunes in northern KwaZulu-Natal and southern Mozambique. In South A ...

which grows on ancient

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s on the border of northern KwaZulu-Natal and southern Mozambique.

Varieties

Two varieties are accepted:''Cola greenwayi'' Brenan
''

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants ...

''. Retrieved 1 October 2023. *''Cola greenwayi'' var. ''greenwayi'' *''Cola greenwayi'' var. ''keniensis''

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q15361633 greenwayi Afromontane flora Flora of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Flora of Kenya Flora of Malawi Flora of Mozambique Flora of the Northern Provinces Flora of Tanzania Flora of Zambia Flora of Zimbabwe Plants described in 1956