''Coffea'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Rubiaceae Rubiaceae () is a family (biology), family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with Petiole ( ...

. ''Coffea'' species are

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s or small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s native to tropical and southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and tropical

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. The

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s of some species, called

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

s, are used to flavor various beverages and products. The fruits, like the seeds, contain a large amount of

caffeine Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine chemical classification, class and is the most commonly consumed Psychoactive drug, psychoactive substance globally. It is mainly used for its eugeroic (wakefulness pr ...

, and have a distinct sweet taste. The plant ranks as one of the world's most valuable and widely traded commodity crops and is an important

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is a ...

product of several countries, including those in Central and South America, the Caribbean and Africa. The coffee trade relies heavily on two of the over 120 species, ''

Coffea arabica ''Coffea arabica'' (), also known as the Arabica coffee, is a species of flowering plant in the coffee and madder family Rubiaceae. It is believed to be the first species of coffee to have been cultivated and is the dominant cultivar, represe ...

'' (commonly known simply as "Arabica"), which accounts for 60–80% of the world's coffee production, and ''

Coffea canephora ''Coffea canephora'' (especially ''C. canephora var. robusta'', so predominantly cultivated that it is often simply termed ''Coffea robusta'', or commonly robusta coffee) is a species of coffee plant that has its origins in central and weste ...

'' (known as " Robusta"), which accounts for about 20–40%. Both coffee species are vulnerable to shifts, caused by climate change, in their growing zones, which are likely to result in a decline in production in some of the most important growing regions.

Cultivation and use

There are over 130 species of ''Coffea'', which is grown from seed. The two most popular are ''

'' (commonly known simply as "Arabica"), which accounts for 60–80% of the world's coffee production, and ''

'' (known as " Robusta"), which accounts for about 20–40%. ''C. arabica'' is preferred for its sweeter taste, while ''C. canephora'' has a higher caffeine content. ''C. arabica'' has its origins in the highlands of Ethiopia and the Boma Plateau of Sudan, and came about as the result of a hybrid between ''C. canephora'' and '' C. eugenioides''. The trees produce edible red or purple fruits that are either

epigynous berries In botany, a berry is a fleshy fruit without a drupe, drupe (pit) produced from a single flower containing one Ovary (botany), ovary. Berries so defined include grapes, Ribes, currants, and tomatoes, as well as cucumbers, eggplants (aubergines ...

indehiscent Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that ...

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

s. The fruit is often referred to as a " coffee cherry", and it contains two seeds, called " coffee beans". Despite these terms, coffee is neither a true

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

(the fruit of certain species in the genus ''

Prunus ''Prunus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs from the family (biology), family Rosaceae. The genus includes plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots and almonds (collectively Drupe, stonefruit). The genus has a cosm ...

'') nor a true

(seeds from plants in the family ''

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

''). In any coffee crop, about 5–10% of fruits contain only a single bean. Called a peaberry, it is smaller and rounder than a normal coffee bean. When grown in the tropics, coffee is a vigorous bush or small tree that usually grows to a height of . Most commonly cultivated coffee species grow best at high elevations, but do not tolerate freezing temperatures. The ''Coffea arabica'' tree grows fruit after three to five years, producing for an average of 50 to 60 years, though up to 100 years is possible. The white flowers are highly scented. The fruit takes about nine months to ripen. Coffe flower

Ecology

The

in coffee beans serves as a toxic substance that protects against insects and other pests, a form of natural

plant defense against herbivory Plant defense against herbivory or host-plant resistance is a range of adaptations Evolution, evolved by plants which improve their fitness (biology), survival and reproduction by reducing the impact of herbivores. Many plants produce secondary ...

. Caffeine simultaneously attracts

pollinator A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female carpel, stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are ...

s, specifically honeybees, by creating an olfactory memory that signals bees to return to the plant's flowers. Not all ''Coffea'' species contain caffeine, and the earliest species had little or no caffeine content. Caffeine has evolved independently in multiple lineages of ''Coffea'' in Africa, perhaps in response to high pest predation in the humid environments of West-Central Africa. Caffeine has also evolved independently in the more distantly related genera '' Theobroma'' ( cacao) and ''

Camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...

'' ( tea). This suggests that caffeine production is an adaptive trait in coffee and plant evolution. The fruit and leaves also contain caffeine, and can be used to make coffee cherry tea and coffee-leaf tea. The fruit is also used in many brands of soft drink as well as pre-packaged teas. Several insect pests affect coffee production, including the coffee borer beetle ('' Hypothenemus hampei'') and the coffee leafminer ('' Leucoptera caffeina''). Coffee is used as a food plant by the larvae of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

(

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

and

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

) species, '' Dalcera abrasa'', turnip moth and some members of the genus '' Endoclita'', including '' E. damor'' and '' E. malabaricus''.

Research

New species of ''Coffea'' are still being identified in the 2000s. In 2008 and 2009, researchers from the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

, named seven from the mountains of northern

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, including '' C. ambongensis'', '' C. boinensis'', '' C. labatii'', '' C. pterocarpa'', '' C. bissetiae'', and '' C. namorokensis''. In 2008, two new species were discovered in

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

: '' Coffea charrieriana'', which is caffeine-free, and '' Coffea anthonyi''. By crossing the new species with other known coffees, two new features might be introduced to cultivated coffee plants: beans without

and

self-pollination Self-pollination is a form of pollination in which pollen arrives at the stigma of a flower (in flowering plants) or at the ovule (in gymnosperms) of the same plant. The term cross-pollination is used for the opposite case, where pollen from ...

. In 2011, ''Coffea'' absorbed the twenty species of the former genus ''Psilanthus'' due to the morphological and genetic similarities between the two genera. Historically, the two have been considered distinct genera due to differences in the length of the corolla tube and the

anther The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

arrangement: ''Coffea'' with a short corolla tube and exserted style and anthers; ''Psilanthus'' with a long corolla tube and included anthers. However, these characteristics were not present in all species of either respective genus, making the two genera overwhelmingly similar in both morphology and genetic sequence. This transfer expanded ''Coffea'' from 104 species to 124, and extended its native distribution to tropical Asia and Australasia. The coffee

genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

was published in 2014, with more than 25,000

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

s identified. This revealed that coffee plants make caffeine using a different set of genes from those found in tea, cacao and other such plants. A robust and almost fully resolved phylogeny of the entire genus was published in 2017. In addition to resolving the relationships of ''Coffea'' species, this study's results suggest Africa or Asia as the likely ancestral origin of Coffea and point to several independent radiations across Africa, Asia, and the Western Indian Ocean Islands. In 2020, a technique of DNA fingerprinting, or genetic authentication of plant material, was proven effective for coffee. For the study, scientists used DNA extraction and SSR marker analysis. This technique or similar ones may allow for several improvements to coffee production such as improved information for farmers as to the susceptibility of their coffee plants to pests and disease, a professionalized coffee seed system, and transparency and traceability for buyers of green, un-roasted coffee.

Species

As of May 2024,

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

includes:Plants of the World Online: ''Coffea'' L.
(retrieved 31 May 2024) # '' Coffea abbayesii'' J.-F. Leroy # '' Coffea affinis'' De Wild. # '' Coffea alleizettii'' Dubard # '' Coffea ambanjensis'' J.-F. Leroy # '' Coffea ambongenis'' J.-F. Leroy ex A. P. Davis # '' Coffea andrambovatensis'' J.-F. Leroy # '' Coffea ankaranensis'' J.-F. Leroy ex A. P. Davis # '' Coffea anthonyi'' Stoff. & F. Anthony # ''

'' L. # '' Coffea arenesiana'' J.-F. Leroy # '' Coffea augagneurii'' Dubard # '' Coffea bakossii'' Cheek & Bridson # '' Coffea benghalensis'' B. Heyne ex Schult. # '' Coffea bertrandii'' A. Chev. # '' Coffea betamponensis'' Portères & J.-F. Leroy # '' Coffea bissetiae'' A. P. Davis & Rakotonas. # '' Coffea boinensis'' A. P. Davis & Rakotonas. # '' Coffea boiviniana'' A. P. Davis & Rakotonas. # '' Coffea bonnieri'' Dubard # '' Coffea brassii'' ( J.-F. Leroy) A. P. Davis # '' Coffea brevipes'' Hiern # '' Coffea bridsoniae'' A. P. Davis & Mvungi # '' Coffea buxifolia'' A. Chev. # '' Coffea callmanderi'' # ''

Coffea pseudozanguebariae ''Coffea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. ''Coffea'' species are shrubs or small trees native to tropical and southern Africa and tropical Asia. The seeds of some species, called coffee beans, are used to flavor variou ...

'' Bridson # '' Coffea pterocarpa'' A. P. Davis & Rakotonas. # '' Coffea pustulata'' # '' Coffea racemosa'' Lour. # '' Coffea rakotonasoloi'' A. P. Davis # '' Coffea ratsimamangae'' J.-F. Leroy ex A. P. Davis & Rakotonas. # '' Coffea resinosa'' ( Hook. f.) Radlk. # '' Coffea rhamnifolia'' ( Chiov.) Bridson # '' Coffea richardii'' J.-F. Leroy # '' Coffea rizetiana'' # '' Coffea rupicola'' # '' Coffea sahafaryensis'' J.-F. Leroy # '' Coffea sakarahae'' J.-F. Leroy # '' Coffea salvatrix'' Swynn. & Philipson # '' Coffea sambavensis'' J.-F. Leroy ex A. P Davis & Rakotonas. # '' Coffea sapinii'' ( De Wild.) A. P. Davis # '' Coffea schliebenii'' Bridson # '' Coffea semsei'' ( Bridson) A. P. Davis # '' Coffea sessiliflora'' Bridson # '' Coffea stenophylla'' G. Don # '' Coffea tetragona'' Jum. & H. Perrier # '' Coffea togoensis'' A. Chev. # '' Coffea toshii'' A. P. Davis & Rakotonas. # '' Coffea travancorensis''

Wight A wight is a being or thing. This general meaning is shared by cognate terms in Germanic languages, however the usage of the term varies greatly over time and between regions. In Old English, it could refer to anything in existence, with more s ...

& Arn. # '' Coffea tricalysioides'' J.-F. Leroy # '' Coffea tsirananae'' J.-F. Leroy # ''

Coffea vatovavyensis ''Coffea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Family (biology), family Rubiaceae. ''Coffea'' species are shrubs or small trees native to tropical and southern Africa and tropical Asia. The seeds of some species, called coffee coffee bean, b ...

'' J.-F. Leroy # '' Coffea vavateninensis'' J.-F. Leroy # '' Coffea vianneyi'' J.-F. Leroy # '' Coffea vohemarensis'' A. P. Davis & Rakotonas. # '' Coffea wightiana'' Wall. ex

& Arn. # '' Coffea zanguebariae'' Lour.

References

External links

World Checklist of Rubiaceae

Coffee & Conservation
{{Authority control Fruits originating in Africa Medicinal plants of Asia Medicinal plants of Africa Rubiaceae genera Crops Herbal and fungal stimulants Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus