Cola Seeds (Semina Colae)
The Cola Seeds, also called Cola Nuts, Kola Nuts, Bissy Nuts or Gooroo Nuts, are obtained from Cola Vera, Schumann (N.O. Sterculiacece), a big and smart tree resembling in habit Spanish Chestnut. It is a native plant of tropical Africa, growing wild in Sierra Leone, North Ashanti, near sources of Nigeria River, etc, but is cultivated in other tropical countries, such as India, Brazil, Indonesia, etc.
The Tree grows about 40 feet high, has yellow flowers, spotted with purple, leaf 6 to 8 inches long, pointed at both ends.
The woody capsular fruit contains five to fifteen large white or crimson seeds which are removed and deprived of their seed-coats, the kernels only being used. These are chewed whilst still fresh, either before or after germination, and have been highly valued by the negroes for many centuries of their stimulus properties, in which they resemble tea, coffee, cocoa, etc.
Large quantities of the seeds are collected and consumed by the natives, who also carry on a considerable trade in them. Packed in baskets with the leaves of the cola tree they can be kept fresh, and in this state are brought chiefly from Lagos to Sokoto, Kano, and Timbuctoo, whence they are distributed to other parts of Africa. The fresh seeds are also occasionally exported, but more commonly the kernels are separated into the two large fleshy cotyledons and dried, during which the white or crimson colour changes to a dull reddish brown.
Description
Dried cola seeds, as commonly seen in this country, consist of the kernels only of the seeds, sometimes entire, but more often separated into the two cotyledons. Externally, they have a dull dark brown or reddish brown colour; internally they are usually somewhat paler. They are hard and solid, and exhibit, when cut, a perfectly uniform section, no mucilage glands being observable. They vary in length from about 2 to 5 cm., and are rather less in breadth and in thickness. In shape, too, they exhibit considerable differences, being frequently flat on one side and curved on the other, or wedge-shaped or irregularly six-sided. A shallow furrow encircles the kernel, dividing it into two cotyledons; transverse to this furrow at one end of the seed a distinct cleft may be found, partially separating each cotyledon into two portions. Complete kernels may easily be separated into their constituent cotyledons, and the small radicle will be found towards the bottom of this transverse cleft.
Fresh cola seeds have a bitterish astringent taste, which is scarcely perceptible in the dry seed; the latter are also destitute of any marked odour.
The student should observe
(a) The two large fleshy cotylodons and small radicle,
(b) The absence of seed-coats, the drug consisting of the kernel only.
Constituents
The most important constituents of kola seeds are caffeine (1 to 2.5 per cent.), kolatin (0.75 per cent, mostly combined with the caffeine), and traces of theobromine. They also contain kolatein, an oxydase enzyme, fat, sugar, and abundance of starch
Kolatin, C8H804, is crystalline, slightly soluble in water, but readily in alcohol. During the drying of the seeds it is converted by the oxydase into kola-red, a substance allied to the phlobaphenes, which is therefore present in the dried drug to the exclusion of kolatin and imparts to it the characteristic colour. If, however, the seeds are boiled and the oxydase thus destroyed, the dried seeds retain the colour of the fresh and contain the kolatin. The fresh seeds may also be preserved by beating them into a pulp with an equal weight of loaf sugar
Kolatein is also crystalline, soluble in alcohol and in hot water; it has not yet been completely investigated.
Kolanin, a reputed constituent of the seeds, appears to be a mixture of kola-red and caffeine.
Medicine and Uses
Cola Seeds is an herb used to treat depression, exhaustion (tiredness), diarrhea, and migraine headache.
Cola Seeds have properties similar to those of tea, coffee, modified only by the astringents present and are used as a stimulus. Kolatin increases the energy of the cardiac contractions, and as this substance is not present in the commercial drug, it having been converted into kola-red, the physical therapy action of the dried seeds is somewhat different from that of the fresh; hence possibly the strong preference in Africa for the fresh seeds. The action of the dried sterilised seeds resembles that of the fresh.
Taboo
Do not take Cola if you are Pregnant or Breastfeeding
Do not take Cola if you have stomach or intestinal ulcers
Side Effects:
Stop taking your medicine right away if you have any of the following side effects.
Your medicine may be causing these symptoms which may mean you are allergic to it.
Breathing problems or tightness in your throat or chest
Chest pain
Skin hives, rash, or itchy or swollen skin
You may have the following other side effects
May cause sleeplessness and nervous restlessness
May cause tremors (shaking) and palpitations (pounding heart beats)
May cause withdrawal headache (after stopping Cola)
May cause stomach soreness and irritation
Adulterations
Male Cola (not to be confused with Cola) is the fruit of a small tree, Garcinia Kola, and contains no caffeine. The fruit is oblong, from 2 to 3 inches long and 1 inch broad; it is trigonal in section, reddish brown with nutmeg-like markings. Taste, bitter and astringent. Under microscope shows resinous masses, surrounded by cells full of starch. The seeds of Lucuma Mammosa are sometimes found mixed with Cola Nuts, but are easily detected by their strong smell of prussic acid. Hertiera Litorales seeds are also sometimes found mixed with Kola nuts.
Varieties
Cola Acuminata, Schott and Endlicher; Cameroon and Congo States; the seeds have three to five cotyledons; they are eaten like the genuine, and are sometimes imported, but contain less caffeine and are less esteemed.
Cola Ballayi, Carnu; Gaboon; the seeds have six cotyledons and contain but little caffeine.
Cola Astrophora, Warburg, the red cola of the Ashantis, always has red seeds; Cola alba, the white cola of the Ngaus, always has whitish seeds. Cola Vera is said to be a hybrid of these two species; its seeds are sometimes red, sometimes white.
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