Rubiaceae
Coffea

Coffea canephora Pierre ex A.Froehner

First published in Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 1: 237 (1897)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is W. Tropical Africa to South Sudan and N. Angola. It is a tree and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

Rubiaceae, F. N. Hepper & R. W. J. Keay. Flora of West Tropical Africa 2. 1963

Morphology General Habit
An evergreen shrub or small tree, to 20 ft. high
Ecology
Spontaneous in the understorey of rainforest
Note
Also cultivated
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers white.
[FWTA]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/18290186/18539466

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Rubiaceae, B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1976

Morphology General Habit
Tree or bush 3.5–8.5 m. tall; young branches glabrous, covered with light brown shiny bark.
Morphology Leaves
Leaf-blades oblong-elliptic, broadly elliptic or occasionally obovate to lanceolate, 12–31.5(–40) cm. long, 4.5–12(–22) cm. wide, distinctly acuminate at apex, obtuse to cuneate or sometimes rounded at base, papery to thinly coriaceous, shiny above, margin sometimes undulate in some cultivated forms; lateral nerves (8–)11–15(–17) pairs, main ones sometimes puberulent beneath; domatia rather inconspicuous, pubescent or absent; petiole 0.5–1.8(–2.1) cm. long; stipules deltate, 0.6–1.8 cm. long, obtuse or acute but always exceeded by a mucro.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers 5–6(–7)-merous, 8–30(–48) per axil, borne in 1–4(–7) congested fascicles; peduncle up to 3 (–7 in fruit) mm. long; inflorescence-branches and pedicels compressed in flowering stage so that calyces do not or scarcely exceed the surrounding bracteole; bracteoles stipule-like, with well-developed subfoliaceous lobes, up to 2 cm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx-tube 1–2 mm. long; limb reduced to a rim.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corolla-tube 0.5–1.6 cm. long, 2–3 mm. wide at throat; lobes oblong, 0.8–1.9 cm. long, 1.8–5.5 mm. wide, obtuse to rounded.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit red, sometimes faintly striped, broadly oblong-ellipsoid, 0.9–1.7 cm. long, 0.6–1.2 cm. wide; disc small, cylindrical, somewhat prominent.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds fawn, 7–13 mm. long, 5.5–9.5 mm. wide.
Habitat
Forest; 700–1400 m.
Distribution
T1 U1 U2 U3 West Africa, also widely cultivated
[FTEA]

Common Names

English
Robusta Coffee

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Living Collection Database

    • Common Names from Plants and People Africa http://www.plantsandpeopleafrica.com/

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images