308 A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY 
recognized generally by the regular tubular corolla, the 
inferior ovary, and the floral number four. However, the 
tropical members of the family yield two important products 
that should not escape mention. 
Coffee.—The coffee plant (Coffea arabica) is a native 
of Arabia and Abyssinia, and is a slender tree becoming 
fifteen to twenty-five feet high (Fig. 294), but rarely allowed 
to become more than half that height in cultivation. The 
fruit is a dark scarlet berry (Fig. 
295) containing two horn-like 
seeds, which are ordinarily called 
coffee-beans (Fig. 296). The use 
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Vic. 294.—The coffee-tree. Fig. 295.—Fruiting branch of coffee. 
After BarLion. After BaILuon. 
of coffee can be traced back in Arabia for only about five 
hundred years, and its use in Europe extends over only 
half that time. Coffee plantations have been established 
in regions of high annual temperature (ranging from 60° 
to 90°), Brazil producing more coffee than all other coun- 
