[ 169 1 
X. On the African Species of the Genus Coffea, Linn. Ву W. Р. Нікі 
MA, PLS. 
(Plate XXIV.) 
Read April 20th, 1876. 
AS at present understood, the Linnean genus Coffea belongs to the Old World ; and the 
numerous American species that have been previously referred to it, now find places in 
other genera. Allthe species most valuable for economie or commercial purposes are 
confined to Africa or are of African origin. Among the Indian species, at least one, 
C. bengalensis, Roxb., a native of Silhet, was in former times cultivated in Bengal for 
the growth of coffee ; but being far inferior and not productive, it has been discarded on 
the introduction of the African plants. 
Some of the Indian species originally deseribed as members of this genus, belong to 
the following different genera :—Psychotria, Linn. ; Prismatomeris, Thw. (C. tetrandra, 
Roxb.); and Pavetta, Linn. 
The American species belong to Appunia, Hook. f. (C. tenuiflora, Benth.), Coussarea, 
Aubl, Furamea, Aubl., Psychotria, Linn., Palicourea, Aubl., and Rudgea, Salisb. 
In Africa, besides the true species of Coffea, other berries are employed as coffee; but 
they are not of commercial importance : an example of this occurs in Feretia apodanthera, 
А. Rich. Randia genipeflora, DC., is called wild coffee by the people at Sierra Leone 
and in the island of Fernando Po, according to Barter's notes in the Kew Museum and 
Herbarium. 
Of the species included in the present paper, in all fifteen, seven have been already 
published with descriptions, and the remaining eight are new or have not been pre- 
viously described. One species, C. arabica, the original species of the genus, is believed 
to be indigenous in Abyssinia, also on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza and in the 
district of Golungo Alto in Angola, doubtfully also along the Mozambique coast, while 
the white-berried variety comes from Sierra Leone. Another species, C. liberica, belongs 
to Liberia, to Golungo Alto, and to Sierra Leone, though perhaps only cultivated in the 
latter place; two other species, C. stenophylla and C. Afzelii, are peculiar to Sierra 
Leone ; one, С. microcarpa, to Senegambia; another, С. rupestris, to Abbeokuta ; 
another, C. brevipes, to the Cameroons Mountains; another, C. subcordata, to Old 
Calabar ; one, С. jasminoides, is common to Old Calabar, to the Niger region, and to 
Golungo Alto; another, C. melanocarpa, is peculiar to Golungo Alto; another, C. hypo- 
glauca, to the district Pungo Andongo of Angola; two, С. Zanguebarie and С. racemosa, 
to the Mozambique district ; and, lastly, two, C. mauritiana and С. macrocarpa, to the 
Mascarene Islands of Bourbon and Mauritius. In other words, Upper Guinea contains 
9 species, Nile Land 1, Lower Guinea 5, and Mozambique district with the Mascarene 
Islands 4 or 5. 
SECOND SERIES.— BOTANY, VOL. I. 2B 
