CINCHONACE^E. 



361 



This plant grows in Peru and Colombia, and pro- 

 bably in other parts of South America. Humboldt 

 found it in great abundance near the Magdalena, but 

 it must be scarce in Brazil, as Martius was unable to 

 detect it among the Ipecacuanha sent for exportation 

 to Bahia and other ports. It is seldom or never 

 brought to this country or Europe, though it enjoys 

 a high reputation in South America. As met with 

 in the dried state, it is in pieces about the size of a 

 large goose-quill, less twisted than those of the true 

 Ipecacuanha, but striated longitudinally, and pre- 

 senting at intervals deep circular depressions. The 

 fracture is brownish, slightly resinous ; the odour is 

 very feeble and the taste somewhat bitter but insipid. 

 The epidermis is of a dirty reddish-gray colour, be- 

 coming blackish by age. The cortical portion is 

 soft, and the ligneous part is yellowish, perforated 

 by an infinite number of minute holes. From an 

 analysis by Pelletier, it has been found to contain 

 nine per cent, of emetine, fatty matter, gum, starch, 

 &c. 



Medical Properties. — These are the same as those 

 of the Ipecacuanha, and it is administered in the 

 same manner. 



Fig. 172. 



Roots of P. emetica. 

 Old root. b. Contorted do. 



Coffea. — Linn. 



Tube of the calyx ovate, globose or turbinate ; limb small, 4 — 5-toothed. Corolla in- 

 fundibuliform, with a dilated 4 — 5-parted limb with oblong lobes. Stamens 4 — 5, in- 

 cluded or exserted. Style bifid at apex. Berry umbilicated, naked, or crowned, 2-seed- 

 ed. Seed convex above, flat beneath, with a longitudinal furrow. 



This genus is a large one, and consists of shrubs or trees with opposite 

 leaves, furnished with stipules. Many of the species included in it are wholly 

 distinct in their characters, and belong to other genera, and a further exami- 

 nation will possibly restrict it to those noticed by De Candolle in his 

 first section of it. The Coffee of commerce is derived from more than one 

 species, or at least from several strongly-marked varieties. 



C. arabica, Linn. — Leaves oblong, ovate, acuminate. Peduncles axillary, aggregate. 

 Corolla 5-cleft. Stamens exserted ; berry ovate. 



Linn., Sp. PL 245; Bot. Mag. 1303; De Candolle, Prod. iv. 499; 

 Lindley, FL Med. 440. 



Common Names. — Coffee tree; Arabian Coffee tree. 



Foreign Names. — Caffayer Arabique, Fr. ; Caffe di Moca, It.; Arabische 

 Kafferbaum, Ger. 



Description. — An evergreen shrub from ten to twenty feet high, with an erect stem, 

 covered with a brownish bark. The branches are opposite, as are also the leaves, which 

 are ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, entire, smooth, shining, bright green above, and paler 

 beneath, on short petioles. The flowers are white, odorous, sessile, in clusters of four or 

 five together, in the axils of the leaves. The calyx is superior, small, 5-toothed. The 

 corolla is funnel-shaped and divided into five lanceolate, spreading segments. The 

 stamens are inserted into the tube of the corolla, and have yellow, linear anthers. 

 The ovary is inferior, ovate, and supports a simple style, with two awl-shaped, re- 



