28 COFFEE 



Cult. Cafeier in Man. Cult. Trop. de Raoul & Sagot pt. i, 2 (1897) 

 229, 237. — Cornaillac El Cafe, la Vainilla, el Cacao, etc. (1903) 35. 

 Economic and Cultural Reference: — Sebire PI. Util. Senegal (1899) 

 179. 



Coffea I bo Froehner in Notizbl. d. Kgl. Bot. Mus. 7 (1897) 



231-234. 



A thickly branched shrub bearing gray-white, longitudinally fis- 

 sured bark. Branches numerous; short lateral branches bear, at 

 moderately enlarged nodes, 2-6-flowered fascicles which appear prior 

 to the leaves or before the leaves reach maturity. Leaves 4 to 4.7 

 cm. wide by 8 to 9.5 cm. long, develop only weakly up to flowering- 

 time, obovate or ovate, with a short obtuse tip ; leaf-lamina dull, 

 darker above than below, glabrous, attenuated at the base into the 

 petiole; 5-7 veins of first rank are distinct, other venation only 

 faintly visible. Flowers and fruit occur on the same branches at 

 the same time; flowers 6-partite, subtended at the base of the short 

 pedicel by an indistinctly quadridentate, villose, circular bract ; corolla 

 2.4 cm. long, tube 0.9 cm. long; lobes flat, broadened, obtusely-lan- 

 ceolate, 1.5 cm. long. Anthers i.o cm. long. Style 1.7 cm. long, 

 and extends beyond the corolla-tube; calyx 7-8-toothed, extending 

 well above the calyculus. Fruit i cm. long by 0.6 cm. wide; fruit, 

 when dry, is light brown, with 5 longitudinal fissures on each half; 

 pedicel short; fruit crowned with a scanty but clearly toothed calyx- 

 margin; seed small 0.3 to 0.4 cm. wide by 0.6 cm. long, flat or 

 narrowly bead-like in form, light yellowish-green, narrows at each 

 extremity. Stone-cells very numerous in the testa. Caffeine-con- 

 tent of seed is 0.795%. 



Diagnostic Characters of the Species: — Fruit with 10 longitudinal 

 fissures; seed small. Coffea I bo Froehner distinguishes itself from 

 other species in the Mozambique such as Coffea racemosa of Lour, 

 by the barren, not warty, leaves and the short lateral branches bear- 

 ing flower-clusters. It is difFerentiated from Coffea Zanquebarice 

 Lour., which it resembles in the long veined fruit, by the thin con- 

 sistency and indistinct venation of the leaves and the large number 

 of flowers in a fascicle. The supposition that it is derived from 

 Coffea Zanquebaria Lour., which has slender and pointed seeds, has 

 not been confirmed by study. 



Common Name: — Ibo Coffee. 



