Coffee plants

Coffea species are shrubs or small trees native to tropical and southern Africa and tropical Asia. Coffee plants were discovered in Africa and eventually disseminated to countries throughout the world. Despite this diversity, only two species are actually of great importance in the world market, C. arabica L. and C. canephora Pierre.

All coffee species are woody evergreens, but the plants range in size from small shrubs to trees more than 10 meters tall. All coffee trees consist of an upright main shoot (trunk) with primary, secondary and tertiary lateral branches.

Leaves vary in color from yellowish to dark green, with touches of bronze or purple. coffee leaves are generally thin, shiny and waxed, elliptical in form and conspicuously veined. They typically grow in pairs that are opposite to each other on the branch.

A study of the effect of shade on the growth and production of coffee in Ethiopia showed that the shade stimulated changes in the physiology of coffee plants, including increasing photosynthesis and adding leaf area indexes.

Thus, the coffee plantations under shade have a larger and heavier coffee production compared to those without shade. Shade also increases the dry matter of coffee fields, which means it plays a role in storing carbon stocks.

The white flowers appear in small bunches at the nodes. After pollination, a fruit develops into a cherry about 3/8 to 5/8 inch (10 to 15mm) long containing two seeds (the coffee beans). Technically, the flowers form on the one-year-old wood that is only slightly hardened.

The fruit of the coffee plant is typically described as a drupe: a fleshy, indehiscent fruit with a pericarp that is clearly differentiated into an exocarp, mesocarp and endocarp.
Coffee plants

Coffee plant

Coffee plants are grown in greenhouses until they are a few inches tall. After about six months, they are transplanted into rows about three to ten feet (one to three meters apart on a coffee plantation.

A cultivated coffee plant is a small tree or a shrub. It consists of the three recognizable vegetative organs - stems, leaves and roots – common to most plants. It has a main trunks and horizontal branches that’s support its large, elliptical-shape leaves, which are dark green and shiny due to a waxy coating.

The coffee plant when regularly grown and pruned forms a very handsome bush, and in a state of health is well covered with dark green foliage.

Farmers normally regularly prune to about 12 to 15 feet high in order to make harvesting easier. During growing season, farmers inspect coffee plants for diseases such as leaf rust and for insect that damage the crops.

The leaves are from 3 to 5 inches long and nearly 2 broad, having a wavy margin and beautiful glossy appearance. A healthy, mature coffee bush may yield from 12 to 15 pounds of coffee cherries per year.

Arabica coffee grows best in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. In particular, coffee plants are adapted to warm climates with year-round temperatures about 70 ° F; at least 60 inches of rainfall a year. Robusta is more tolerant of warm temperatures and is cultivated in poorer soils closer to the equator.
Coffee plant