16. CoFFEA.] 77. RUBIACE^. 



16. COFFEA, L. 



Shrubs with broad stipules and white or yelloAvish in.s. flowers in 

 axillary or terminal fascicles or solitary or axillary dense cymes. 

 Hypanthium short, calyx tube short or 0, often glandular, persistent ; 

 sepals often minute orb. Corolla-tube short or long with 4-7 spread- 

 ing- lobes twisted in bud. Anthers 4-7 sessile, often recurved or 

 twisted. Ovary 2-celled, style filiform AvitJi 2 linear or subulate 

 branches. Oviiles 1 in each cell peltately attached to the septiim. 

 Fruit a drupe Avith 2 plano-convex or ventrally concave coriaceous or 

 cartilaginous pyrenes. Seeds concave or grooved ventrally, albumen 

 horny, embryo short towards base of seed, curved, cotyledons thin 

 cordate, radicle inferior. 



A. Deciduous. Leaves ovate. Corolla-tube •"-•8" long- , . .1. hevgalensis, 



B, Evergreen cultivated species. Leaves narrow. 



L. ell, -oblong-. Fls. in close cymes. Cor.-tube *3.5-'5" . . 2. arahica. 

 L. ell.-oblongorell.-oblanceolate. Fls. sub-solitary. Cor.-tube 



•2--25" 3. liberica. 



1. C. bengalensis, Roxh. Banamali, Or. 



A pretty shrub 3-4 ft. high with bright green ovate acuminate 

 leaves 3-4" by 2-2-5", setaceous-tipped stipules •17-"2" long and pure 

 white salver-shaped floAvers, 1-1-5" diam. Avith a tube •7--8" long. 

 Fruit an ovoid black drupe •4--5" long Avith 1-2 pyrenes. Seed 

 grooved. 



In the damper regions. Champaran'and Furneah ! Forming semi-tbickets in 

 damp low ground under dense shade in the Singbhum forests, but rare ! Mayurbhanj,. 

 eleA^ 2500 ft. ! Mais of Puri ! Fl. with the new leaves, rarely when quite leafless, 

 April-May. Fr. Jan. -April. Deciduous Feb. -April. 



Leaves'hairy on the nerves beneath when young-; sec. n. 3-5 slender, petiole 

 •17--26". Fls. sessile 1-3 in a fascicle terminating the shoots, sometimes on new 

 shoots with 4 lanceolate bract-scales at the base and a single pair of leaves 

 supporting the fascicle, sometimes axillary (according to the floras) . Cal^'x obsolete 

 or of several minute glandular teeth. Petals -5- '9''. Antliers '3" sessile apiculate, 

 the tips only exserted. Style short. 



The coffee is of little use according to Hoxhnrgh, and I have neA:er heard of the 

 natives making any use of it. 



2. C. arabica, L. Arabian Coffee. 



A handsome evergi'een bush Avith compressed spreading branchlets 

 and bifarious oblong or elliptic-oblong shortly acuminate glabrous 

 and shining leaves 4-8" long Avith rounded or subacute base and 

 petiole •25--4". Stipules broadly lanceolate Avith a long or short 

 subulate cusp ultimately broadly semi orbicular and the cusp 

 deciduous. P'loAvers Avhite 1-3-nate or in abbreviated 1-2-nate 

 axillary cymes, sub-sessile, subtended by short amplexicaul green 

 bracts. Cor.-tube -3--45". Petals 5, •4--65". Drupe oblong with 2 

 pyrenes (the Avell-knoAvn coffee beans). 



Often cultivated for ornament and on the Ranchi and Hazaril)agh plateaux, also 

 for coffee for local consumi)tion. Native of Abyssinia. Fl. March. Fr. Dec. 



LeaA'es -with 10-12 sec. n. looped and with large gland-pits, sometimes double, in 

 their axils. Cymes sometimes with foliaceous bracts at their base. As it renews 

 its leaves between the time of tloAvering and fruiting the fruits are mostlj- from 

 leafless nodes. 



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