276 XLV. RUBIACEiE. [Pavetta. 



Plectronia didyma, Benth. & Hook. Syn. Canthium didymum, Gsertn. ; 

 Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 221 ; O. umbellatum, Wight Ic. t. 1034 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. 

 Fl. 113 ; is a beautiful evergreen tree 30 ft. high, with dark-green, oval, short- 

 acuminate coriaceous leaves, and white flowers in axillary umbels on short 

 peduncles. Corolla-segments valvate, tube hairy inside at the mouth. Drupes 

 \ in. long, numerous, on slender pedicels, compressed, with two lateral furrows, 

 almost didymous. South India, common along the western Ghats, possibly in 

 the Central Provinces. Wood yellowish, with irregular masses of black wood 

 in the centre, close-grained hard and heavy. Vern. Arsul, Bombay. 



12. COPPEA, Linn. 



Shrubs, mostly glabrous. Leaves opposite, ' rarely in whorls of 3. 

 Stipules interpetiolar, broad, acuminate, persistent. Flowers white, 

 sessile or on short pedicels, solitary or fascicled in the axils of leaves. 

 Calyx-tube short, with a short, truncate or dentate limb. Corolla hypo- 

 crateriform or funnel-shaped ; lobes 4-5, oblong, obtuse, patent, contorted 

 in bud. Stamens inserted in the mouth of the corolla ; anthers sessile, or 

 attached to short filaments at the back near the base. Ovary 2-celled, 

 style bifid at the top ; ovule one in each cell attached to the dissepiment. 

 Berry globose or oblong, dry or fleshy, 2-seeded, each seed enclosed in a 

 coriaceous or chartaceous endocarp (the husk of the coffee). Seeds plano- 

 convex, the inner side flat, with a deep longitudinal furrow, filled up by 

 the testa and a portion of the endocarp. Embryo curved, at the back and 

 near the base of the horny albumen, cotyledons foliaceous, radicle inferior. 



1. C. arabica, Linn, j Eoxb. Fl. Ind. i. 539 j Wight Ic. t. 53. Coffee. 

 Vern. The bean Bun, when roasted and ground Kahwa. 



A glabrous shrub or small tree. Leaves 5-7 in. long, opposite, oblong, 

 acuminate, narrowed into short petiole ; main lateral nerves 6-10 pair, 

 joined by intramarginal veins, and slender parallel reticulate veins. 

 Flowers numerous, in axillary fascicles. Corolla funnel-shaped, lobes 

 oblong, as long as tube. Filaments J-J the length of anthers. Berry 

 fleshy, purple when ripe. 



Indigenous in Abyssinia, and in Soudan, where it is said to form large forests. 

 The use of coffee has long been known in Abyssinia, but it is not certain when 

 the shrub was first cultivated. In Arabia it has been cultivated since the 

 fifteenth century ; there is, however, no proof of its being indigenous in that 

 country. In the sixteenth century coffee became known in Europe, and in 

 America its cultivation was commenced in 1718 by the Dutch in Surinam. 

 Coffee was grown in Java in the latter half of the seventeenth century. It is 

 said that into India it was first introduced (last century) by a Musalman saint, 

 who lived and died on the summit of the great mountain in the Shimoga divi- 

 sion of Mysore, called after him Baba Buden, that he brought the coffee-tree 

 from Arabia, and planted it near his dwelling, whence it gradually spread to 

 other parts of the country (Bowring, Eastern Experiences, p. 157). The coffee- 

 tree accommodates itself readily to a moist climate, and under the influence 

 of a rainfall of 100 inches on the Ghats of Munzerabad, Coorg, and Wynad, 

 produces coffee similar in quality to that grown in Egypt, Arabia, and other 

 countries, with a comparatively dry climate. It thrives in Chota Nagpur, on 

 the Chikalda hills in Berar, and elsewhere in Central India. In the Dehra 





