PHYLLIS. 
385 
subarb. Mad. reg. 1, cult. cc. Frequent in gardens and vine- 
yards (rarely in plantations) about Funchal, S ta Cruz, Machico, 
Rib. Brava, and other villages chiefly on the S. coast, and 
scarcely flourishing above 600 or 700 ft. FI. May, June ; if. 
Aug., Sept. — Left to itself the Coffee-pl. is a slender pyramidal 
shr. from 6-18 ft. high, with generally 2 or 3 erect straight 
stiff virgate pale-barked st. or main branches and numerous 
simple elongate horizontal or slightly drooping leafy side- 
branches. Foliage evergreen very dark or blackish shining gr. 
L. coriaceous but not stiff, wavy drooping 4 or 5 in. long 1|- 
2 in. broad ; petioles short. Stip. combined into a pair of op- 
posite close-pressed ovate cuspidate interpetiolai scales. FI. 
towards the ends of the side-branches all along the gr. last 
year’s shoots, rather large and elegant, of a pure snow-w. con- 
trasting with the dark 1. and deliciously fragrant like Jasmine, 
but of very short duration. Pet. rather long and narrow. 
Berries or drupes mostly ovoidal |-f in. long, \ in. broad, 
sometimes nearly globose, becoming from bright red dark 
blood-red or almost black, their thick, tough, leathery skin or 
flesh slimy inside and sweet but not palatable. 
Twenty or 30 years ago Coffee was much more cult, in Mad. 
than it has been for the last 10 or 15 years. This is partly 
owing to the destruction of the pi. by Oidium or other blights 
simultaneously with the Vines. But although formerly the 
yield was abundant and the produce of very superior quality — the 
small and delicate “ berry ” being considered in London not in- 
ferior in excellence to the best Mocha — the cultivation of 
Coffee must always be confined within too narrow limits in 
Mad. to allow it ever to become a growth of much commercial 
value, and particularly as it only flourishes in situations ca- 
pable of being turned to more profitable account. 
Tribe II. Anthospermece. ' 
2. Piiyllis L. 
1. P. nobla L. Cabreira ; Seisim or Scisinho. 
The only sp. — Linn. Sp. 335 ; Buch 195. no. 283 ; DC. iv. 
579; \VB. ii. 191. “ Simpla Nobla Canariensium Pluk. Aim. 
347.” ValerianeUa Canariensis frutescens Simpla Nobla dicta, 
Dill. Hort. Elth. ii. 405. t. 299. f. 386.— Shr. Mad. reg. 1, 2, 3, 4 
(chiefly 2,3), ccc ; PS. reg. 1,4, r; GD. and SI), reg. 1, r. 
Rocky cliffs from the sea up to the tops of the highest peaks in 
Mad. everywhere ; in l )t0 S t0 on the I. Debaixo, cliffs on the 
