Coffea canephora Pierre ex A.Froehner, Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 1: 237 (1897)

Name meaning 'with basket'.

Synonyms
Coffea arabica var. stuhlmannii A.Froehner
Coffea bukobensis A.Zimm.
Coffea canephora var. crassifolia Lautent ex De Wild.
Coffea canephora var. gossweileri A.Chev.
Coffea canephora var. hiernii Pierre ex De Wild.
Coffea canephora var. hinaultii Pierre ex De Wild.
Coffea canephora var. kouilouensis De Wild.
Coffea canephora var. laurentii (De Wild.) A.Chev.
Coffea canephora var. maclaudii (A.Chev.) A.Chev.
Coffea canephora var. muniensis Pierre ex De Wild.
Coffea canephora var. oligoneura Pierre ex De Wild.
Coffea canephora var. opaca Pierre ex De Wild.
Coffea canephora var. robusta (L. Linden) A. Chev.
Coffea canephora forma sankuruensis De Wild.
Coffea canephora var. sankuruensis (De Wild.) De Wild.
Coffea canephora var. stuhlmannii (A.Froehner) A.Chev.
Coffea canephora var. trillesii De Wild.
Coffea canephora var. ugandae (Cramer) A.Chev.
Coffea canephora var. welwitschii (Pierre ex De Wild.) A.Chev.
Coffea canephora var. wildemanii Pierre ex De Wild.
Coffea laurentii De Wild.
Coffea maclaudii A.Chev.
Coffea quillon Wester [Invalid]
Coffea robusta L.Linden
Coffea ugandae Cramer
Coffea welwitschii Pierre ex De Wild.

Description
Small trees or shrubs, 4-8 m tall; branches flattened becoming subterete, glabrous. Petiole 10-20 mm, glabrous; leaf blade drying thickly papery, elliptic, elliptic-oblong, or occasionally ovate-oblong, (12-)15-30(-40) x (4.5-)6-12(-22) cm, glabrous on both surfaces, base cuneate to obtuse, margins flat or occasionally crisped-undulate, apex acuminate with tip 10-18 mm; secondary veins (8-)10-12(-17) pairs, without domatia or with glabrous foveolate domatia; stipules triangular, 6-18 mm, obtuse to acute, aristate. Inflorescences with cymes 1-3(-7) in each axil, each cyme subcapitate to fasciculate, 3-6-flowered, subsessile to pedunculate with peduncles to 7 mm; bracts cupular, 1-3 mm; pedicels to 2 mm. Calyx glabrous; ovary portion ellipsoid, 1-2 mm; limb reduced or denticulate, 0.1-0.5 mm. Corolla white to pink, funnelform, outside glabrous; tube 5-16 mm; lobes (4 or)5-7(or 8), spatulate to narrowly elliptic, 8-19 mm, obtuse to rounded. Drupe red, subglobose, 10-12 กม 10-12 mm, smooth when dry, glabrous. [Flora of China]

Ecology
Forest understorey tree. Nowadays cultivated across the tropics.

Uses
Fruit edible. Seeds roasted and used to make coffee.

Distribution
Originally from Africa (Ethiopia), but currently cultivated worldwide in the tropics. In Asia usually up to about 1000 m elevation.

Local names