:^6 BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND FORM. 



berry is at first dark-green in color, but assumes a 

 yellow and finally a bright-scarlet color as it ripens, 

 becoming dark-purple as it dries, having a little circular 

 area at the summit and a callous point through it. In 

 this condition it contains a mucilaginous, saccharine, 

 glutinous substance, technically termed the " pulp," a suc- 

 culent, sweet and palatable matter, closely enveloping the 

 seeds, fi-equently eaten by the pickers. Another sub- 

 stance, known as the Mesocarp, secures and separates the 

 Pyrenes or seeds, and as the fruit dries this mesocarp 

 hardens and becomes part of the shell or hull surround- 

 ing the seeds, which it becomes necessary to remove by 

 a milling or hulling process in order to free them from 

 this covering. These pyrenes or seeds are again invested 

 by a cartilaginous membrane termed the Endocarp, but 

 commonly known as the " parchment," a papery, elastic 

 substance, loosely but completely enveloping them. On 

 removing this parchment we have exposed two small, 

 oval seeds facing each other, though sometimes there is 

 but one called from its shape male or " pea-berry." These 

 seeds, which constitute the raw Coffee of commerce, are 

 plano-convex in form, the flat surfaces which are laid 

 against each other within the berry, having a longitudinal 

 furrow or groove extending their entire length. When 

 first exposed they are of a soft, semi-translucent bluish or 

 greenish color, afterwards becoming hard, tough or flinty 

 in texture, in which state it is known as *' rice coffee," the 

 bulk of which forms the Coffees of commerce. This 

 seed or " bean " as it is called in trade is still incased in 

 what is known as the Testa, another covering which 

 forms an integument of the seed and which is known to 

 commerce as the " silver-skin," the mass of the coffee 

 beneath this testa being termed the Albumen. Contained 

 in this albumen and embedded near its base is to be found 



