Species

General Characteristics of the Baracoffea Group

Species of the Baracoffea group are generally shrubs or small trees with a single or multi-stemmed trunk, ranging from 1 to 6 meters in height, and a diameter at breast height (DBH) reaching up to 5 cm (Davis et al., 2005).

The leaves are deciduous and have domatia located on the adaxial surface, usually at the intersection between the main vein and secondary veins, or sometimes between secondary and tertiary veins (Davis and Rakotonasolo, 2008).

The inflorescences are initially axillary and then transform into terminal inflorescences due to renewed seasonal meristematic activity, which after several seasons of flowering generally become a brachyblast (or a condensed short shoot). This condensed short shoot bears either a single-flowered inflorescence (paired or leaf-like). The terminal inflorescence is most often observed on a brachyblast that has already borne inflorescences.

The seeds of the Baracoffea group species, like all other species in the genus Coffea, possess a hard endocarp with a deep ventral "coffee" groove on the adaxial surface. Simplistically, the fruits of Baracoffea group species contain "Coffea-like coffee seeds" but exhibit more regular variations in size and shape compared to other Coffea species (Davis and Rakotonasolo, 2008).

Species :

Coffea ambongensis

Coffea boinensis

Coffea bissetiae

References

Davis, A. P., D. Bridsone et F. Rakotonasolo (2005). A reexamination of Coffea subgenus Baracoffea and comments on the morphology and classification of Coffea and Psilanthus (Rubiaceae-Coffeeae). In W. G. D’Arcy, R. C. Keating, V. C. Hollowell, et T. B. Croat (Éds.), A Festschrift for William G. D’arcy: The Legacy of a Taxonomist (Monographs in systematic botany). Missouri Botanical Garden vol. 104 : 399‑420

Davis, A. P. et F. Rakotonasolo (2008a). A taxonomic revision of the baracoffea alliance: nine remarkable Coffea species from western Madagascar Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 158 (3) : 355‑390. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2008.00936.x.