700 A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY. 



short capsule; (2) C. succiruhra, which has large, thin, broadly- 

 elliptical leaves, purplish-red calyx, rose-colored petals, and a 

 very long capsule. While C. Ledgeriana yields barks containing 

 the highest amount of alkaloids, C. succiruhra is most cultivated. 



Uragoga (Cephaclis) Ipecacuanha. — The plants are perennial 

 herbs 10 to 20 cm. high, with a creeping, woody, hypogeous stem. 

 The roots are official in all of the pharmacopoeias (see Vol. II). 

 The leaves are elliptical, entire, short-petiolate, and with divided 

 stipules (Fig. 386). The flowers are white and form small ter- 

 minal heads. The fruit is a blue berry, with characteristic spiral 

 arrangement of the carpels. 



Coffea arabica is a small evergreen tree or shrub with lanceo- 

 late, acuminate, entire, slightly coriaceous, dark green, short- 

 petiolate leaves, which are partly united with the short inter- 

 petiolar stipules at the base. The flowers are white, fragrant, and 

 occur in axillary clusters. The fruit is a small, spherical or ellip- 

 soidal drupe with two locules, each containing one seed, or coffee 

 GRAIN. The coffee plant is indigenous to Abyssinia and other 

 parts of Eastern Africa, and is cultivated (Fig. 389) in tropical 

 countries, notably in Java, Sumatra, Ceylon, and Central and South 

 America, particularly Brazil, over 600,000 tons being produced 

 annually in the latter country. The yield of one tree is between 

 I and 12 pounds. There are two methods of freeing the seeds 

 from the parchment-like endocarp : In the one case the fruits 

 are allowed to dry and are then broken ; in the other case, which 

 is known as the wet method, the sarcocarp is removed by means 

 of a machine, and the two seeds with the parchment-like endocarp 

 are allowed to dry in such a manner as to undergo a fermentation, 

 and after drying the endocarp is removed. Coffee seeds contain 

 from I to 2 per cent, of caffeine ; from 3 to 5 per cent, of tannin ; 

 about 15 per cent, of glucose and dextrin ; 10 to 13 per cent, of a 

 fatty oil consisting chiefly of olein and palmitin ; io*to 13 per 

 cent, of proteins ; and yield 4 to 7 per cent, of ash.- The official 

 caffeine is derived in part from coffee seeds. 



In the ROASTING of coffee there is a change in the physical 

 character of the seeds, as well as a change in some of the constit- 

 uents. The AROMA is supposed to be due to an oil known as 

 coffeol, which is said to be a methyl ether of saligenin. 



