Eden

Penang Botanic Gardens Plant Collection

Coffea canephora Pierre ex A.Froehner (RUBIACEAE)

Posted at — Nov 13, 2019
Robusta Coffee

Description

Evergreen shrub or small tree to 12 m tall. Leaves 15-30 cm long, oppositely arranged, elliptic, elliptic-oblong. Flowers c. 4 cm across, clustered at axils of leaves, tubular, white to pink. Fruits 10-12 mm across, subglobose, ripening red.

Distribution

Upland forests of Ethiopia, Western and Central Africa. Widely cultivated in SE Asia particularly in Vietnam and Indonesia as lowland coffee.

Uses

Seeds are roasted to produce coffee beans. It has higher yield and easier to grow than Coffea arabica, the mountain coffee.