Kola nut

The kola nut (Yoruba: obi, Dagbani: guli, Hausa: goro, Igbo: ọjị, Sängö: gôro, Swahili: mukezu) is the seed of certain species of plant of the genus Cola, placed formerly in the cocoa family Sterculiaceae and now usually subsumed in the mallow family Malvaceae (as subfamily Sterculioideae).

[2] Cola acuminata, an evergreen tree about 20 meters in height, has long, ovoid leaves pointed at both the ends with a leathery texture.

[2] Originally a tree of the tropical rainforest, it needs a hot humid climate, but can withstand a dry season on sites with a high ground water level.

Though it is a lowland forest tree, it has been found at altitudes over 300 m on deep, rich soils under heavy and evenly distributed rainfall.

Traders sometimes apply an extract of the bark of Rauvolfia vomitoria or the pulverised fruits of Xylopia and Capsicum to counteract the attack on nursery plants.

[10] In folk medicine, kola nuts are considered useful for aiding digestion when ground and mixed with honey, and are used as a remedy for coughs.

[13] A French voyager named Chevalier Des Marchais, who traveled to West Africa in the late 1720s, noted that the nut made the, "bitterest, our sourest Things taste Sweet after it.

"[13] These sweet alterations are attributed to the chemical substances that the nut adds to one's palate or the sheer amount of caffeine.

[9] Kola nuts are an important part of the traditional spiritual practice, culture, and religion in West Africa, particularly Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia.

[1] Although the exact details of its cola recipe remain confidential, as of 2016, the Coca-Cola formula no longer contained actual kola nut extract,[1] and an independent test conducted to identify it failed to detect its signature proteins.

The lyric, setting a post-funeral scene for the murder of a black boy in London, reads, "After the funeral, breaking kola nuts, we sit and reminisce about the past."