30 COFFEE 



oval, obtuse, 0.75 cm. wide by 1.5 cm. long, spreading; corolla-tube 

 0.62 cm. long. Anthers wholly exserted, fixed at one third their 

 length above their base, 3 times the length of the filaments which 

 are 0.62 cm. to 0.93 cm. long. Style nearly equal to the unex- 

 panded flower, bifid; lobes narrowly linear. Berry prolate-spher- 

 oidal or globose, 1.25 cm. in diameter, black when ripe; pedicel short; 

 seeds 0.83 cm. long, hemispherical, with narrow ventral furrow. 



Diagnostic Characters of the Species: — The leaves are marked on 

 the lower surface by small, white, punctured glands in the axils of 

 the veins. The youngest leaf-shoots are pink. 



Synonymy: — Coffea arabica Benth. (non Linn.) in Hook. Niger 



Fl. (1849) 413. 



Common Names: — Highland Coffee; Native Coffee; Sierra Leone 

 Coffee; Bush Coffee; Wild Coffee; Upland Coffee; Rio-Nunez 

 Coffee. 



Geographical Distribution: — Upper Guinea, Angola, Abyssinia; 

 West Africa, Sierra Leone. Introduced into the English colonies 

 in 1895-1896. 



History: — Coffea stenophylla G. Don was discovered by Afzelius 

 a century and a quarter ago. It was described and published in 

 1834 by G. Don who collected specimens in Sierra Leone. It is an 

 interesting economic species since it is the only indigenous West 

 African species excepting C. lib erica Bull which may rival C. arabica 

 L. commercially. The beans are said, by both the natives and the 

 French merchants, to be superior to those of all other species. At 

 Freetown, it is preferred to the seeds of C. liberica Bull. It has 

 been shipped to France and sold as best Mocha. The plant thrives 

 on gneissose or granitic soil and grows best from 500 to 2000 feet 

 elevation, but may grow well from sea level to 5000 feet elevation. 

 Higher elevations seem to tend to improve the quality of the berry 

 and reduce the vigor of the plant. Seeds were sent to the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens at Kew, England, in May, 1894, by Sir Wm. H. 

 Quayle Jones, late Chief Justice of the West African Settlements 

 and Deputy Governor of Sierra Leone. These plants flowered in 

 one of the tropical houses in September, 1895. Seeds and plants 

 were distributed to Indian Botanic Institutions and to the other 

 English colonies, where it is now cultivated. It produces excellent 

 coffee-beans although it has not thriven as well as could be desired 



