COFFEE OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 125 



natives, but the most important part is the leaves, which are 

 made into hats, baskets, and the like. The demand has of late 

 years become so great that in order to obtain the leaves the 

 trees are cut down, and as no care is taken to form new planta- 

 tions, it was at one time feared this palm would eventually 

 become extinct. In 1864 the leading botanists in this country 

 petitioned the Government for its protection. By more recent 

 information, however, it appears that in one island alone there 

 are many thousands of trees. 



Cocoa Plum {Chrysobalanus Icaco), a small tree of the Cocoa 

 Plum family (Chrysobalanacese), native of the West Indies, intro- 

 duced into this country in 1752, and cultivated in the hothouses 

 as a rare plant. It produces a small pulpy fruit, which is made 

 into a preserve, and forms an article of trade. 



Cocum Butter. {Sec Gamboge.) 



Coffee {Coffea arabica), a small much-branched tree of the 

 Cinchona family (Cinchonacese), not exceeding 20 feet in height, 

 much resembling a cherry tree, but has a whitish bark, and more 

 slender and horizontal spreading branches. It has opposite 

 leaves, of a light -green colour and elliptical lance -like form, 

 about 6 inches in length. The flowers are in clusters in the 

 axils of the leaves, and are white, like orange-tree flowers, and 

 perfume the air. The young fruit is first of a green colour, but 

 on ripening becomes red, and is about the size of a small cherry, 

 but somewhat oblong, each containing two seeds closely united 

 by their flat sides, which, on the pulp being removed, separate 

 and constitute the Coffee berries of commerce, and when roasted 

 and ground, the Coffee of the shops. The native country of the 

 Coffee tree is supposed to be Abyssinia, where it has been known 

 from time immemorial under the name of Coffa, hence comes 

 Coffee. From Abyssinia it is supposed to have been introduced 

 into Arabia Felix about the end of the fifteenth century, and 

 has been cultivated in the province of Yemen and used as a 

 beverage. About the middle of the sixteenth century its use be- 

 came known in Constantinople. It was first used in London by a 

 Smyrna merchant, who, in order to have it properly made, brought 



