Coffea
(from Coffee, a province of Narea, in Africa, where the common Coffee grows in abundance). Coffee-tree. ORD. Rubiaceae. Stove evergreen trees and shrubs. Corolla tubular, funnel-shaped, with a spreading four to five-parted limb, and oblong lobes. Leaves opposite; stipules interpetiolar. They thrive in a mixture of turfy loam and sand; and require plenty of water, and ample pot room. Ripe cuttings strike freely in sand, under a hand glass, in a moist heat; and the young plants so raised produce flowers and fruit more readily than those grown from seed.
C. arabica (Arabian).* fl. white, sweet-scented, disposed in axillary clusters of four to five. September. l. oval-oblong, wavy, dark green and shining above, paler beneath, acuminated. h. 5ft. to 15ft. Truly native in the mountainous regions of South-west Abyssinia, 1696. (B. M. 1303.) C. benghalensis (Bengal). fl. white, solitary or in pairs at the extremity of the branches; corolla hypocrateriform, with a slender tube. l. opposite, ovate, acuminate, entire, spreading, remote, almost sessile. Branches dichotomous. Assam. (B. M. 4917.) C. liberica (Liberian). fl. white, sweet-scented. l. similar in outline to, but very much larger than, those of Arabian Coffee. Liberia, 1875. The plant altogether is much more robust, and can be grown in hot localities in which the older C. arabica would not thrive. (G. C. n. s. 6, 105.) C. travancorensis (Travancore). fl. white, fragrant, solitary, or three or four together in the axils of the leaves, shortly pedicelled, erect. l. variable in shape, from broadly ovate to lanceolate, obtuse, acute, or drawn out into a long obtuse or acute point. Branches slender, obscurely quadrangular. h. 3ft. to 6ft. Southern India, 1844. (B. M. 6749.)