Also kola. [Kola, Kolla, Goora, in Negro langs. of W. Africa.] A genus of trees, N. O. Sterculiaceæ, natives of western tropical Africa; esp. C. acuminata, which has been introduced into the West Indies and Brazil; its seed called cola-nut or cola-seed, about the size of a chestnut, brownish, and bitter, is largely used for chewing as a condiment and digestive.
1795. Acc. Sierra Leone, 240. Cola is a famous fruit, highly esteemed by the natives, to which they attribute the same virtues as to Peruvian bark.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 39. The Kola spoken of by African travellers, which, when chewed or sucked, renders the flavour of water, even if half putrid, agreeable.
1866. Treas. Bot., s.v., The practice of eating Cola extending as far as Fezzan and Tripoli.
1882. J. Smith, Economic Plants, 127. The fruit is a follicle containing several nut-like seeds, which are called Cola or Goora Nuts.
1883–4. Medical Ann., 16/1. Cola nuts … are a perfect antidote to alcohol.
Cola, pl. of COLON.
Cola-: see also COLLA-.
