Liberian coffee (Coffea liberica)

Liberian coffee (Coffea liberica) is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae family, a tree up to 20 meters tall, with numerous, radial and irregular branches, brown bark, and linear fissures. The leaves are oval, thick, up to 35 cm long, up to 20 cm long, shiny green, and have petioles up to 1 cm long. The fruit is round to oval, irregular, and up to 2 cm wide.



TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Subfamily: Ixoroideae
Tribe: Coffeeae
Genus: Coffea L. in Sp. Pl.: 172 (1753)
Species: Coffea liberica W.Bull in Nursery Cat. (William Bull) 97: 4 (1874)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Coffea abeokutae Cramer in Meded. Dept. Landb. Ned.-Indië 11: 286, 396 (1913)
Coffea abeokutae var. camerunensis A.Chev. in Encycl. Biol. 22: t. 44 (1942)
Coffea abeokutae var. indeniensis (Siebert) A.Chev. (1942)
Coffea abeokutae var. longicarpa Portères in Ann. Agric. Afrique Occ. 1(2): 224 (1937)
Coffea abeokutae var. macrocarpa A.Chev. (1942)
Coffea abeokutae var. microcarpa A.Chev. (1942)
Coffea abeokutae var. sphaerocarpa Portères (1937)
Coffea excelsoidea Portères ex A.Chev. in Ann. Agric. Afrique Occ. 1: 81 (1937)
Coffea liberica var. aurantiaca A.Chev. in Encycl. Biol. 28: 173 (1947)
Coffea liberica f. bwambensis Bridson in Kew Bull. 37: 314 (1982)
Coffea liberica var. gossweileri A.Chev. in Rev. Bot. Appl. Agric. Trop. 19: 398 (1939)
Coffea liberica var. grandifolia A.Chev. (1947)
Coffea liberica var. indeniensis E.Siebert in Caf. Ivo.: 35 (1932)
Coffea liberica var. ivorensis E.Siebert (1932)
Coffea liberica var. liberica
Coffea liberica var. liberiensis E.Siebert (1932)
Coffea liberica var. pyriformis Fauchère in J. Agric. Trop. 8: 317 (1908)
Coffea oyemensis A.Chev. (1939)

PUBLICATIONS

Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.

Akoègninou, A., van der Burg, W.J. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (eds.) (2006). Flore Analytique du Bénin: 1-1034. Backhuys Publishers.

Baksh-Comeau, Y., Maharaj, S.S., Adams, C.D., Harris, S.A., Filer, D.L. & Hawthorne, W.D. (2016). An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Trinidad and Tobago with analysis of vegetation types and botanical 'hotspots'. Phytotaxa 250: 1-431.

Berry, P.E., Yatskievych, K. & Holst, B.K. (eds.) in Steyermark, J., Berry, P.E., Holts, B.K. (eds). (2004). Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana 8: 1-874. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.

Borhidi, A. (2006). Rubiáceas de México: 1-512. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest.

Brundu, G. & Camarda, I. (2013). The Flora of Chad: a checklist and brief analysis. PhytoKeys 23: 1-18.

Brunel, J.F., Hiepo, P. & Scholz, H. (eds.) (1984). Flore Analytique du Togo Phanérogames: 1-751. GTZ, Eschborn.

Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Davidse, G. & al. (eds.) (2012). Flora Mesoamericana 4(2): 1-533. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F.

Davis, A.P. (2005-). Personal communication on Rubiaceae 1 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Davis, A.P., Govaerts, R., Bridson, D.M. & Stoffelen, P. (2006). An annotated taxonomic conspectus of the genus Coffea (Rubiaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 152: 465-512.

Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G.F. (2008). Plants of Angola. Strelitzia 22: 1-279. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.

Figueiredo, E. (2007). The Rubiaceae of Cabinda (Angola). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 154: 455-495.

Figueiredo, E., Paiva, J., Stévart, T., Oliveira, F. & Smith, G.F. (2011). Annotated catalogue of the flowering plants of São Tomé and Príncipe. Bothalia 41: 41-82.

Friedmann, F. (1994). Flore des Seychelles Dicotylédones: 1-663. ORSTOM éditions.

Gosline, G., Bidault, E., van der Burgt, X., Cahen, D., Challen, G., Condé, N., Couch, C., Couvreur, T.L.P., Dagallier, L.M.J., Darbyshire, I., Dawson, S., Doré, T.S., Goyder, D., Grall, A., Haba, P., Haba, P., Harris, D., Hind, D.J.N., Jongkind, & al. (2023). A Taxonomically-verified and Vouchered Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea. Nature, scientific data 10, Article number: 327: [1]-[12].

Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.

Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Hammel, B.E., Grayum, M.H., Herrera, C. & Zamora, N. (eds.) (2014). Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica 7: 1-840. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Hokche, O., Berry, P.E. & Huber, O. (eds.) (2008). Nuevo Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela: 1-859. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela.

Lejoy, J., Ndjele, M.-B. & Geerinck, D. (2010). Catalogue-flore des plantes vasculaires des districts de Kisangani et de la Tshopo (RD Congo). Taxonomania. Revue de Taxonomie et de Nomenclature Botaniques 30: 1-307.

Robbrecht, E. & al. (2024). Flore d'Afrique Centrale (Zaïre - Rwanda - Burundi), Rubiaceae Tribu VIII, Coffeeae: 1-183. Jardin Botanique National de Belgique, Meise.

Sita, P. & Moutsambote, J.-M. (2005). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Congo, ed. sept. 2005: 1-158. ORSTOM, Centre de Brazzaville.

Sosef, M.S.M. & al. (2006). Check-list des plantes vasculaires du Gabon. Scripta Botanica Belgica 35: 1-438.

Welsh, S.L. (1998). Flora Societensis: 1-420. E.P.S. Inc. Utah.

Wu, Z., Raven, P.H. & Hong, D. (eds.) (2011). Flora of China 19: 1-884. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

VERNACULAR NAME

Chinese (simplified): 大果咖啡 - 大粒咖啡
Chinese (traditional): 大果咖啡
Czech: Kávovník liberijský
English: Liberian coffee, Liberica coffee, Excelsa coffee
Finnish: Liberiankahvi
Indonesia: Kopi liberika, Kopi nangka
Japanese: リベリアコーヒーノキ
Java: Kopi nongko
Polish: Kawa liberyjska
Slovak: Kávovník libérijský
Spanish: Café pergamino liberia
Thai: กาแฟใบใหญ่

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
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