106 NUTRITIVE PLANTS. 



ties, particularly a kind of green tea, done up in roundish balls, 

 called gun-powder tea. 



[Alton. Woodville. DuHalde. Gregory. 



SECTION XV; 



Coffee. 

 Coffea. Linn# 



This genus of plants contains ten species, chiefly natives of the 

 East Indies, South America, and the Polynesian isles. The only 

 species, however, that we here notice in the present work is the 

 CofTea Arabica, of which there are two varieties, though both are 

 sold in our shops as Turkey coffee, and possess similar qualities. 



a. With leaves oblong-ovate ; flowers in axillary clusters ; corols 

 five-cleft. 



. With berries oblong, acute at the base ; leaves opposite and 

 waved ; flowers from two to four together, nearly sessile, white 

 odorous. 



The tree seldom rises more than l6 or 18 feet high, with an erect 

 main stem, covered with a lightish brown bark : the leaves are 

 oblong-ovate, pointed ; flowers in axillary clusters, the corols of 

 which are five-cleft. These flowers are of a pure white, and very 

 pleasant odour, but their duration is very transient. The fruit 

 resembles a cherry ; and grows in clusters, ranged along the branches 

 under the axillae of the leaves, which are of a laurel hue, but ra- 

 ther longer than a laurel leaf. It is an ever-green, and makes a 

 beautiful appearance at every season in the stove, but particularly 

 when it is in flower. The coffee-tree is now propagated in great 

 plenty in many parts of America ; but the produce of these coun- 

 tries is greatly inferior to that of Arabia. This plant is propagated 

 by seeds, which should be sown soon after they are gathered from 

 the tree, for if kept but a short time out of the ground, they will 

 not grow, which is the chief reason that this tree has not been 

 spread into more different countries ; for the seeds will not keep 

 long enough to be sent into any place ; so that in order to cultivate 

 this plant in any part of the world, it is absolutely necessary to have 

 it carried thither growing. The berries are commonly ripe with us 

 in April, at which time they should be sown in pots of fresh light 



