2 26 R UBIA CEM. [CHAP. 



are almost exclusively tropical, abounding both in the Old 

 and New World. Many of the commonest tropical weeds 

 belong to the Family, as well as several beautiful garden 

 lowers. Comparatively few species are of economic im- 

 portance, but amongst these are several of very great 

 value, as the Coffee-tree {Coffea arabica) and the Peruvian 

 Barks {Ci?ichona), both now cultivated to profit in India; 

 the former principally in Ceylon, the latter on cool mountain 

 slopes in Southern India and the Himalaya. 



Observe the invariably opposite leaves of the Family in 

 all the genera, save one growing in the Himalaya and Khasia 

 mountains {Carlemannid)^ with entire margins : the scale- 

 like stipule between the bases of the opposite leaves, hence 

 called inta'petiolar : the recurved axillary spines of Gambir 

 ( Uncaria Gambir) : the connate capitate flowers of Morinda : 

 the development of one calyx-lobe of the flower into a leaf 

 in MusscBiida: the horny albumen of the seeds, well seen 

 in Coffee. 



The principal supply of Coffee for the British market is 

 obtained from Ceylon. In 1868 the quantity imported from 

 that island amounted to one hundred millions of pounds ; 

 the total from all sources, Ceylon included, to upwards of 

 one hundred and seventy-three million pounds. 



The Peruvian Barks now successfully introduced into 

 [ndia by the British Government, and into Java by the 

 Dutch, are native on the slopes of the Peruvian Andes, 

 where they are becoming scarcer and more difficult of 

 access year by year, owing to the reckless way in which 

 they are destroyed by the collectors of the medicinal bark. 



The valuable emetic. Ipecacuanha, is the root of a Brazilian 

 species of the Family {Cephaelis). Several Indian Rubiaceae 

 are used in native medicine. 



Gambir is an astringent extract, obtained by boiling down 



