172 MR. W. P. HIERN ON THE AFRICAN SPECIES 
The name Coffea liberica was given by Mr. W. Bull, F.L.S., of Chelsea, in order to 
distinguish from the common coffee of commerce young plants which he obtained from 
seeds of Liberian coffee that had been sent from the west coast of Africa. Не has since 
distributed the plant extensively under this name; but he had no idea whether it would 
prove to bea good species from a botanical point of view, nor did he intend the name to 
have any such sense or indication. However, as it turns out that the plant really 
constitutes a new species and requires a botanical name, I have thought it more con- 
venient to adopt Mr. Bull’s horticultural name, which has already received a wide 
distribution amongst plant-growers, rather than to take a manuscript name which 
Afzelius long ago gave to the same species in his herbarium, but which has never been 
published, and is entirely unknown to the publie. Mr. Bull's name first appeared in his 
* Retail List of new beautiful and rare Plants, No. 97, page 4 (1874), and has been 
repeated in all the subsequent editions; he has given no botanical description. 
The plant appears to have been first grown in this country in the year 1872 at Kew 
Gardens, from seeds contributed from Cape Coast, but only in very small quantity ; in 
the following year living plants were imported from the west coast of Africa by Mr. Bull, 
who also in the same year obtained plants from seed; and at the same time numerous 
seedlings were raised at Kew. Itis now produced on a large scale in this country for 
distribution to the various coffee-growing parts of the world. 
3. CorrEA sTENOPHYLLA, G. Don, Gen. Syst. iii. p. 581, n. 4 (1834). 
C. arabica, Benth. in Hook. Niger Fl. p. 413 (1849), part., non Linn. 
Hab. Sierra Leone, Afzelius ! and others. 
In the Appendix to the Report of the Sierra-Leone Company, published in the year 
1794, Afzelius states, on page 173, that “ Coffee-trees are found of two distinct species, 
both nondescript; but whether of any use is not yet ascertained." This remark applies 
to this and the previous species. He subsequently discovered the economie value of at 
least this species. 
According to G. Don, the seeds of this species are roasted and used as the common 
coffee, and are even considered superior to it. Afzelius, as has been explained, had 
recognized this as a distinct species ; and among his manuscripts there remains à long 
description of it under an unpublished name of his own. It is the Highland coffee of 
Sierra Leone, according to Dr. Daniell. 
4. COFFEA ZANGUEBARLE, Lour. Fl. Cochinch. p. 145, п. 3 (1790). 
Amazona africana, Spreng. Syst. Veg. ii. p. 126 (1825). 
Hab. Zanzibar coast, Loureiro; Mozambique, Forbes!, Loureiro (cult.). 
The seeds are said to be used in the same manner as those of C. arabica, Linn. 
5. COFFEA BnEVIPEs, Hiern, sp. nova. 
C. fruticosa glabra nitida, ramulis gracilibus, foliis elliptico-obovatis acuminatis basi 
valde cuneatis firmiter chartaceis, venis lateralibus utrinsecus 6-8 gracilibus, stipulis e 
basi ovata valde vel rigide apiculatis petiolum brevem excedentibus, floribus axil- 
