35 2 Rubiacece. [Coffee 



in,, often crowded, obovate-oval, tapering to base, subacute,, 

 shortly acuminate, glabrous on both sides, with scattered 

 warts, petiole \ in., stip. large, connate, acuminate, tube 

 splitting down one side, deciduous; fl. sessile, crowded in 

 dense, sessile heads at ends of short axillary branches, usually 

 bearing a single pair of 1. immediately beneath the head, bracts 

 very large, ovate, membranous, forming an involucre ; cal.- 

 segm. linear, acute, about as long as ov. ; cor.-tube short, f in.,, 

 broad, lobes lanceolate, acuminate, erect ; style thick, tapering, 

 exserted for \-\ in. ; fruit \ in., globose, with a crown of cal.- 

 segm. 



Forests of the upper montane zone; rather rare. Adam's Peak; 

 Dimbula ; N. Eliya. Fl. March, April ; greenish-white. 



Endemic. 



Very unlike the other species in the inflorescence. Becomes black 

 when dried. 



36. COFFEA, Linn. 



Small shrubs, stip. small ; fl. solitary or in threes, axillary 

 (often apparently terminal), cal.-limb many-toothed or none ; 

 cor.-tube long, lobes 5, spreading, twisted in bud ; stam. in- 

 serted in throat of cor., fil. o, anth. linear ; ov. 2-celled, with 

 a single ovule in each cell attached by centre to septum, 

 stigmas 2, linear ; fruit containing 2 cartilaginous pyrenes ; 

 seeds with a deep ventral groove, endosperm horny. — Sp. 20; 

 6 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Stip. persistent, spinescent; cal.-limb many- 

 toothed I. C. WlGHTIANA. 



Stip. caducous ; cal.-limb. o . . . 2. C. travancorensis. 



1. C. Wig-htiana, Wall. 0^.^.6246(1828). Kaddumallikai, T. 



Thw. Enum. 154. C. P. 1654. 



Fl. B. Ind. hi. 154. Wight, Ic. t. 1598 (not good). 



A small bush, with white bark and many rigid, stout, 

 divaricate branches (often suppressed and very short), young 

 shoots puberulous ; 1. small, J-iJ in., nearly sessile, oval, 

 tapering to base, obtuse, glabrous, stip. short, rigid, sharply 

 pointed, persistent and becoming small curved prickles, 

 especially on the short lat. branches ; fl. solitary, sessile, on 

 the short lat. branches ; cal.-limb with many teeth ; cor.-tube 

 about I in., lobes oblong-oval, obtuse, rather more than half 

 as long as tube ; fruit not seen, " | in., much broader than long, 

 didymous." 



Dry region; rather rare. Jaffna; Mihintale; Uma-oya; Atakalan 

 Korale. Fl. Aug., Sept.; white, very sweet-scented. 



