While preparing a publication concerning some new Cola Schott & Endl. species for the Gabonese flora, it was discovered that the lectotype of Cola cauliflora Mast. does not fit the treatment of this species for the Flore du Gabon. As a consequence a new Cola species, C. elegans Pierre ex Breteler, sp. nov. is described which replaces Cola cauliflora occurring in Cameroon, neither in Gabon nor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Mann collection from Ambas Bay, Cameroon, to which the name Cola cauliflora was erroneously adhered at Kew, proves to represent Cola micrantha K.Schum.