Gofea.] XLV. RUBIACEiE. 277 



Doon it grows freely, and produces fruit abundantly, but requires to be pro- 

 tected against frost while young. It is remarkable that coffee and tea contain 

 the same substance, an alkaloid (Coffeine or Theine), to which (partly at least) 

 the effect upon the nervous system of coffee and tea must be attributed. Tea 

 co^ains between 1 and 3i % of this substance, and coffee between ^ and 1 %. 

 Coffeine IS also found in the Mat^ or Paraguay tea, Ilex paragiiayends, in the 

 Rola,Korra, or Gorra nuts, the seeds of a sterculiaceous tree, Gola acumin- 

 ata, B. Br. ; Bot. Mag. t. 5699, of tropical Africa, cultivated in Brazil and the 

 West Indies, which form an important article of trade, and are chewed by the 

 negroes of West Africa and the West Indies as a condiment. It is also con- 

 tained in the seeds of a sapindaceous tree (PauUinia sorhUis, Mart.) in BrazU, 

 which are powdered and made into a paste, called gfMoraMct bread ; used to make 

 a refreshing drink. 



Goffea hengalends, Eoxb. PL Ind. i. 540 ; Bot. Mag. t. 4917 ; Kath-jahi, 

 Kamaon ; is a small shrub with large snow-white flowers, solitary or in pairs, 

 and ovate, long-acuminate leaves. Eastern Bengal, Sikkim, and the outer hiUs 

 of Kamaon. H. Feb.-Maxch. 



13. MOBINDA, Linn. 

 Shrubs or trees, leaves opposite, rarely in whorls of three, generally 

 membranous. Stipules interpetiolar, or connate into a sheath. Flowers 

 white, sessile on a globose receptacle, forming globose or ovoid flower- 

 heads, with the calyx-tubes often connate. Calyx-limb truncate or ob- 

 scurely dentate, persistent. Corolla funnel-shaped, or hypocrateriform ; 

 lobes coriaceous, 5, rarely 4 or 6-7, valvate in bud. Stamens inserted in 

 the mouth of coroUa ; filaments short, anthers attached by the middle of 

 the back. Ovary 4-celled, 1 ovule in each cell, attached to the dissepi- 

 ment below the middle (normally 2-celled, but the 2 cells are converted 

 into 4 by the introverted carpeUary leaves being so produced laterally, as 

 to reach the walls of the ovary — Thwaites) ; style with 2 stigmatic lobes, 

 rarely entire. Drupes of each flower-head distinct or united in a com- 

 pound succulent berry, including a number of hard 1 -seeded pyrenes, 

 usually 2-4 proceeding from each flower. , 



1. M. exserta, Eoxb. Fl. Ind. i. 545 ; W. & A. Prodr. 419.— Sans. 

 Achyuta. Vern. Al, Afh, ack. Local. Alleri, Alladi, Panoh Mehals ; 

 Ainshi, Korth Konkan. 



A moderate-sized tree, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves opposite, narrowed 

 into short marginate petioles, ovate or elliptic-oblong, 4-5 in. long, main 

 lateral nerves 8-10 pair. Stipules triangular or ovate. Peduncles mostly 

 solitary, leaf opposed by the abortion of the axillary leaf, 1 in. long or 

 longer. Corolla-tube f in. long. Stamens exserted. Style bifid. Drupes 

 concrete into a fleshy syncarpium, irregularly ovoid or globose, f-1^ in. 

 long. 



Indigenous in many parts of India, in Bengal, Burma, the Peninsula, the 

 Panch Mehals. A fast-growing tree 30-40 ft. high, with a deeply-cracked spongy 

 bark of greyish yellow colour. Fl. March-June. Blossoms and bears seed at 

 a very early age. Wood bright yeUow, darkening into yellowish brown; made 

 into plates and dishes. The bark of the root is used for dyeing red and yeUow. 

 Skinner gives the weight of the wood of M. dtrifolia at 30 lb. What he enters 

 under M. exserta from Burma is a Randia, possibly R. vliginosa. 



