254 A COMPENDIUM OF 
only one cotyledon, and the melon order, etc., 
having two divisions or cotyledons to each seed 
This is a most interesting study, patticularly 
as it is the beginning and end of plant life, and 
will be treated of under its own proper head, 
botanically and medicinally. 
Coffea Arabica, the Coffee Tree.—Natural 
order Coffeze or Rubiaceze. Said to bea native 
of Arabia and Abyssinia, and now cultivated in 
many tropical countries. The coffee-tree or 
shrub attains a height of 15 or 20 feet, and its 
branches are adorned with obovate, oblong 
shining evergreen leaves, acutely pointed and 
entire. Flowers white, and in axillary clusters, 
corolla tubular and five-pointed, calyx 5-toothed 
and superior, stamens 5, ovary inferior, 2-celled 
and the style double. Fruit oval, about the 
size of a cherry, juicy, and of a dark-red color 
when ripe; contains two plano convex seeds, hav- 
ing a longitudinal groove on the flat side, hav- 
ing embedded within them two heart-shaped 
cotyledons; embryo very minute. The raw 
coftee seed is hard, horny and tough with little 
or no odor; taste slightly bitter and of its own 
kind. The characteristic taste and odor is de- 
veloped by the roasting process; it also deprives 
the seeds of much fat and tannin, destroys the 
pila and develops the oils which they con- 
in. 
According to Payen, the roasted seeds con- 
tain 13 per cent. of volatile and fixed oil, albu- 
minous matter, gum, sugar, vegetable acid, caf- 
feine, 8 per cent. of caffeotannic acid, 34 per 
