Notes on Wild Coffea arabica from Southwestern , with some Historical Considerations

FREDERICK G. MEYER 1

Introduction trade, just ahead of raw cotton, raw wool, and wheat." The origin and history of cultivated plants In 1961-62, for nearly four months, I offer tantalizing problems for investigation~ visited Ethiopia partly to collect and to particularly to ethnobotanists and plant study the coffee plant which Sylvain (1955) taxonomists. Plants such as maize, soy bean, and Strenge (1956) found growing spon- sesame, the common garden bean, sweet po- taneously in the verdant, evergreen, montane tato, common potato, and some others have rain-forests of the southwestern part of that been so altered by man's influence that the country. The present account is a ,progress wild progenitors often are extremely diffi- report on my collecting trip, with some other cult to determine; in fact, they may no long- data which bear on the history, origin, and er exist at all. Many botanists, unfortu- modern dispersal of this highly interesting nately, are loath to collect cultivated plants, plant. Prior to my visit to Ethiopia, her- which is a pity; and for this reason alone, barium specimens of the coffee plant from the progenitors of some cultivated plants re- rain-forest areas of the country were un- main undocumented and unstudied. available for study. A plant long cultivated and still far from The documented history of C. arabica is being adequately documented from the wild associated almost entirely with cultivated is the Arabica coffee plant, Coffee arabica plants grown in Yemen for perhaps as long L. Legend rather than fact still surrounds as 700 years (Chevalier, 1929), and with the details of origin and natural distribu- plants distributed from Yemen to Java and tion of this plant, although with some inten- to Holland in the late 17th Century and to sive field work in Ethiopia, the question of the New World in the early part of the 18th nativity may not be too difficult to resolve. Century. Now, C. arabica is grown as a com- Yarious travelers, writers, and others long mercial crop in about 80 countries. have suggested that the Arabica coffee plant After investigating the early history of is indigenous to Ethiopia. Lack of factual botanical exploration in Ethiopia, it was evi- data on the wild plant is all the more re- dent that documentation of wild C. arabica markable, especially in view of the long has eluded botanists in the past for reasons and sometimes tedious history of Arabiea best associated with the geographic and coffee as a product of first importance in p~)litical history of the country. woEd commerce. Of interest is a recent re- Current interest in documenting the wild port by the Food and Agricultural Organiza- phase of C. arabica centers in southwestern tion of the United Nations (FAO, 1961), Ethiopia, mainly in the provinces of Illuba- which states that "the value of world coffee bor and Kaffa, where the coffee plant is exports . . . in the fifties was the most valu- abundant in rain-forest areas visited by the able single agricultural commodity in world writer. Apart from the desire to document the wild plant botanically, a practical need 1 United States l~ational Arboretum, Crops Research Division, Agricultural Research Serv- exists to introduce germ plasm from the wild ice, United States Department of Agriculture, for use in coffee breeding research, especial- Washington, D.C. ly material resistant to the coffee rust fungus l~eceived for publication June 29, 1964. (Hemileia vastatrix). Coexistence of the 136 WILD COFFEA ARABICA I~RO]~ SOUTHWESTERN" ETHIOPIA 137 coffee rust fungus and the coffee plant in tied to the cultivation and disease problems rain-forests of Ethiopia is regarded as sig- of the coffee plant, mainly of C. arabica, nificant to the question of nativity and mod- and the economic aspects associated with ern dispersal of the Arabica coffee plant. marketing of the fruit for the drink. Well- Populations of C. arabica in southwestern man correctly appeals for a concerted effort Ethiopia barely have been tapped as a source to study the taxonomy of wild species of of new germ plasm, so that exploration has Coffea, C. arabica in particular, because of really only begun. its ever important role as the leading crop species of coffee. Taxonomy of Coffea Mostly, coffee research is tied to the Arab- Coflea, a tropical woody genus of the ica coffee plant, a development which has Rubiaceae, established by Linnaeus (1737), been a saga of our times, beginning about consists of 40 to 70 species confined to 1600 when small shipments of coffee from Africa, Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands, Yemen began to appear in western Europe. and Indomalaysia. As compared with research on temperate Auguste Chevalier was the last great au- crop plants, crops grown in the tropics re- thority on the taxonomy of Coffea. His mono- ceive far too little attention from specialists, graph, "Les Caf6iers du Globe," completed especially in the area of taxonomy. Well- before World War II, was published in man, like many others, is cognizant that the 1947. This synopsis enumerates 66 species, wild phase of C. arabica is found in Ethi- four-fifths from Africa, Madagascar, and opia but that "the true wild range of this tho Masearene Islands, and one-fifth from species has still to be fully investigated southern Asia, divided among four sections: botanically, and understood horticulturally. (1) Euco].fea, the rain-forest taxa of tropical It needs serious study in comparison with Africa; (2) Paracoffea, the Asian taxa; (3) other species." As a pathologist, Welhnan Argocoffea, the savanna taxa south of the knows only too well the Hemileia rust disease African rain-forest belt; (4) Mascarocoffea, problem and the serious need to collect new the taxa of Madagascar and the Masearene germ plasm of C. arabica from Ethiopia. Islands. A new monograph of Coflea based upon Species of the section Eucoffea, typified field, garden, and laboratory studies is much by C. arabica, are confined to Ethiopia and needed, to define the limits of the genus the rain-forest belt of the Congo River through a careful evaluation of satellite drainage basin of central Africa and rain- "genera" which now complicate the taxo- forest areas of West Africa. The Arabica nomy of this complex. coffee plant contributes about 75% and C. eanephora Pierre ex Froehn., the so-called Some Biologic Aspects of the robusta coffee plant, about 25% of the world Arabica Coffee Plant supply of coffee. Two other African rain- In several respects, C. arabica, Linnaean forest species, C. liberica Bull ex Hiern and type species and best known member of the C. de~vevrei De Wild. & Dur., contribute in- genus, manifests characteristics which arc significant amounts of commercial coffee, unique among the known taxa of Coffea. mostly to the Scandanavian market. Other The type specimen of C. arabica in the members of the section Eucoffea and some Linn~ean herbarium in London clearly typi- species in the other sections reportedly are fies the plant found by me in the rain-forests used locally. of Ethiopia. Although the Linnaean speci- Wellman's (1961) book "Coffee: Botany, ment marked "India," presumably desig- Cultivation, and Utilization," although pri- nates the country of origin, in Species Plan- marily a literature survey, makes an ad- tarum (1753), Linnaeus clearly regarded mirable contribution in pointing out the nmst Arabia as the native habitat of the plant. urgent problems in modern coffee research Iu the 1Sth Century, various authors re- with suggestions for improvement in areas gHrded Ethiopia as the qountry of origin of long neglected, not the least of which is the C. arabica, but no authentic specimens were taxonomy of wild coffee. Traditionally, available to Linnaeus. It is clear to the problems in coffee research have largely been writer that the cultivated phase of O. arab- 138 ECONOMIC BOTANY ica, long confined to Yemen and then spread report (unpublished) on the discovery of a to other parts of the world, and the spon- tetraploid sucker that strongly resembles C. taneous rain-forest phase of the plant in arabica on a plant of an F 1 cross of C. Ethiopia, taxonomically, are inseparable. eugenioides X C. excelsa. Ploidy in C. arab- Biologically, the Arabica coffee plant differs ica is one aspect about the plant yet to be in several significant aspects from other explained. One cannot rule out that C. arab- species of the genus. ica may actually have been derived as an The Arabica coffee plant has been studied allotetraploid from parents :now extinct. intensively by numerous investigators from Stebbins (personal communication) sug- material cultivated in Brazil, India, Java, gests that a search be made for a diploid and other areas, but the Ethiopian phase of 'race' of C. arabica in rain-forests of Ethi- the plant remains basically unstudied. Some opia, since such a race could be helpful in known facts about the plant are worth enu- explaining the origin of allopolyploidy in merating. For example, C. arabica is the this plant. The situation in C. arabica may only known allopolyploid, autogamous spe- be compared with "a good many 'species' as cies of the genus. All other known taxa of recognized by taxonomists before cytological Coffea are diploid and outerossing (allogam- studies were made, such as Hordeum. 'nodo- ous). In its distribution, C. arabica is ap- sum,' Madia gracilis~ Malacothrix clevelandii, parently allopatric and isolated on the Ethi- Microseris spp., which contain a diploid opian plateau, although the total distribution 'race' and a tetraploid or other polyploid of the plant has yet to be fully determined. 'race,' the latter being actually an allopoly- The closest relatives occur in rain-forests of ploid species derived from a hybrid between the Sudan, some 400 miles to the southwest, the diploid and some completely different across the valley of the White Nile River. species." Morphologically, C. arabica most closely Facultative autogamy and the capacity to resembles the diploid C. congensis Froehn., produce homozygous recessive mutations are a species endemic to islands in the Congo well established attributes of C. arabica, as River and some of its tributaries, and C. all coffee planters and others who have eugenioides S. Moore, a species more wide- worked with the plant know. Biologically, these traits are extremely advantageous in spread in east-central tropical Africa. allowing high yielding clones to be readily Bouharmont (1959) in a cytological sur- propagated nearly true from seed. Stebbins vey of 15 taxa of Coffea found that all were (1950, 1957) indicates this is the normal diploid, 2n~22, except C. arabica, 2n:44. situation in autogamous species, such as the Carvalho in Brazil (personal communica- common garden bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), tion) confirms that C. canephora (robusta lima bean (P. lunatus), Bromus carinatus, coffee), C. dewevrei, C. congensis, C. liberica, Ophrys apifera, snapdragon (Antirrhinum C. eugeniolde.% C. stenophylla G. Don, and majus), Gossypium (allopolyploid species). C. racemosa Lout. are diploid, self-incom- The same authority suggests that "self-ferti- patible (allogamous) taxa. lizers have been the victims of an unlucky Genetic studies by Krug and Carvalho accident. Through acquiring chance muta- (1951) show that C. arabica is an allotetra- tions, they have lost their capacity for cross- ploid, facultatively self-fertilized plant. This fertilization. A few genotypes from the orig- species exhibits the only known example of inal heterozygous populations have managed ploidy in Coffea. Carvalho (1952) confirms to survive and remain healthy despite the that C. arabica is an allotetraploid from a usually deleterious effects of inbreeding, but study of mutant haploid progenies of the these have sacrificed their capacity for plant in Brazil. ]~raneo (1939) reports 22, evolutionary change, and are 'dead ends' of 33, 55, 66, and 88-chromosome races in C. evolution which will become extinct if in the arabica. I'uture they become subjected to radical Narasimhaswamy (1962) suggests that C. changes in the enviromnent." Evidence from congensis and C. ~ugenioides possibly are studies on Amsinckia~ Antirrhinum, Senecio, the ancestral parents of C. arabica. More re- Crepis, and other genera shows that plants cently, Narasimhaswamy and u regularly self-fertilized are derived most WILl) COFFEA ARARICA FROM SOUTItWESTERN ETIIIOPIA 139 probably from cross-pollimding am'cstors Some Geographic Features of Ethiopia (Stebblns, l.c.). In C. arabica, the mecha- Geographically, Ethiol)ia is unique among nism pollination may not he signilicantly different from known examples in other the land areas of Africa. The country is lo- cated on the Horn of Africa and extends plants, but the details have not been suffi- from about latitude 3~ p to 18 ~ north of ciently studied. the equator. In size, the country approxi- Krug and Carvalho (1951), working at mates Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas corn- the Instituto Agron6ufico do Estado, Cam- billed. The heart land, which covers nearly pinas, found that most plants of C. urabica two-thirds of the country, is a high plateau cultivated in Brazil fall probably into two with a mean altitude of 7,000 to 8,000 feet. genetic races or groups: Bourbon and Mr. Ras Dashan, at an altitude of 15,154 Typica. The mutation C. arabica (Bourbon) feet, is the fourth highest nmuntain in Afri- is a double recessive normally carryir~g the ca. The Great Rift Valley bisects the coun- complement (tt). Bourbon gives rise to a try in a northeasterly direction from Lake host of highly productive and superior Rudolf on the southwest to the Danakil I)e- clones which come nearly true front seed pression in the northeast near the Red Sea. and are often nalned. Many Bourbon mu- As the lowest sink in Africa, the Danakil tants are preferred by coffee planters over Depression lies at 380 feet below sea level Typica mutations, at Lake Assal6. The nmtation C. arabica (Typica) carries the dominant alleles (TT). Anmng coffee The high plateau of Ethiopia is largely geneticists, mutations of Typica are re- treeless, except for limited areas of forest in garded as primitive or being more closely canyons and river valleys. A belt of mon- allied to the wild progenitor from Ethiopia. tane rain-forest is limited mostly to the One would assume that in cultivated ma- provinces of Kaffa and Illubabor in the terial, any plant not a Bourbon is a Typiea southwest and to some areas of Sidamo- plant. The mutation Typica, however, has Borana and Gamu-Gofa in southern Ethi- never been properly equated with the wild opia. The climate is well suited to cultiva- plant in Ethiopia, so it is not too clear just tion of temperate crops throughout the pla- what is meant by Typica. teau area. Small grain and pulse crops pre- Elite clones derived from the Bourbon mu- dominate. Excessively hot regions are con- tation, such as 'Caturra', 'Semperflorens'. fined mainly to ,~ narrow peripheral belt of and 'Laurina', are considered to be superio:" the country and to deep valleys. In some commercially to the cultivars, 'Maragogipe'i northern areas of the country, the Arabiea 'Cera', 'Goiaba', 'Calycanthema', and soine eoffee plant has been cultivated commercial- others derived from the Typica mutation. In ly for abont 100 years, especially on the their monograph, Krug, Mendes, and Car- Zeghie peninsula and islands of Lake Tana valho (1939) described 24 genetic mutants and in the Chereher mountains of tIarar of C. arabica from Brazil. According to province. Carvalho (personal communication), self- Breitenbach (1961) divides Ethiopia into fertility occurs in 83% to 95% of popula- three climatic zones : (a) " 'Kolla'--hot low- tions of C. arabica grown in Brazil. The lands, in altitudes below 1400 to 1800 m, homozygous condition is expressed in the with an average temperature of 20 to 29~ relatively high incidence of recessive muta- (b) 'Woina Dega'--temperate highlands, in tions which occur in cultivated C. arabiea. altitudes from 1400-1800 to 2400-2600 m, By comparison, observations on the wild with an average temperature of 16 to 20~ phase of C. arabica grown at the Agricul- (el 'Dega'--cold mountains, in altitudes tural and Technical School at Jimma in above 2400 to 2600 m, with an average tem- Ethiopia indicates that self-fertility there occurs in only 40% to 60% of the plants. perature of 10 to 16~ '' The strongly heterozygous condition in pop- Simoons (1960) suggests that Ethiopia ulations of C. arabica in Ethiopia is to be "through most of history has remained a expected if, indeed, the plant has spread land seldom visited and little known by west- from this geographic center of origin. ern scholars. The meagerness of our rather 140 ECONOMIC BOTANY r~,~.cntly acquired knowledge of Ethiopia i~ known, and tile existence of rain-forest in not surprising when we consider the difficul- these areas was not generally known among ties tt:at visitors in the past underwent to botanists. Prior to the Italian occupation of gain access to the mountain heart of the Ethiopia, the rain-forests of the country had country. European travelers, after a hmg not been collected. A few Italian botanists sea journey, had to pass through coastal low- made collections during the occupation peri- land areas controlled by Islanfized tribesmen od (1935-41) and recorded the cultivated who regarded Christians with distrust, con- phase of the Arabica coffee plant. Since that tempt, and often hostility. Once in the cool time, one or two collections have been made highland, travelers were often troubled and by Dr. H. F. Mooney," an irish forest ofli-. hindered in their work by illness in the new cer, who, over the past decade has collected environment. In addition, they were ham- extensively in various parts of the rain-for- pered by the reserve and suspicion of the ests. Since most botanical collectors inher- conservative mountain people, especially ently avoid cultivated plants, it is fair to during the times of anarchy which were so assume that the few collectors who have vis- common in Ethiopia's turbulent past. The ited the rain-forests of Ethiopia believed best early European accounts of Ethiopia that C. art~bi~a found in the area was of were written by a handful of sturdy, intrep- cultivated origin. Although travel into most id, and highly motivated men, usually areas nmst still be done on foot, access is priests, representatives of European govern- possible by air at several points where cof- ments, or adventurers of one sort or an- fee is transported to market by this method. other." This lucid description gives an in- Logan (1946), in an interesting account on sight into the kind of situation which has the forests of central and southern Ethiopia, prevented the Arabiea coffee plant from be- assigned areas of southwesern Ethiopia to ing documented through most of history. the tropical upper montane rain-forest. The Ullendorf (1960) indicated that entry into Vegetation ~'Iap of Africa (A. E. T. F. A. T., southern Ethiopia, anytime from the begin- 1958) assigns the same association as mon- ning of the 17th Century to the beginning tane evergreen forest, a formation which in of the 20th Century, was virtually impossi- Africa is unique to the Ethiopian plateau. ble for Europeans. From 1632-33, when the Rain-forests are most extensively devel- last Jesuit priests left Ethiopia, until the be- oped in Kaffa and Illubabor provinces with ginning of the present century, all southern outlying areas in Wollega, Sidamo-Borana, areas of the country were unvisited by and Gamu-Gofa. The total area of rain-for- Europeans. Thus, the rain-forest phase of est is still unmapped. In altitude, the rain- C. arabica was missed by all 18th and 19th forest ranges frmn approximately 3000 to Century botanical collectors from Europe. over 6000 feet elevation. Precipitation in As mentioned previously, the coffee plant rain-forests varies from about 50 to about found in northern Ethiopia is not wild in 90 inches, more or less evenly distributed, that area. with the highest amount falling from May to September. At Bonga in Kaffa, records Strenge (1956) illustrates the difficulty of at the Sudan Interior Mission kept since visiting areas of some 60 or 1953 indicate an average annual rainfall of more years ago, before the overthrow of the 68 to 70 inches with no month rainless. Kingdom of Kaffa by the Emperor Menelik The Ethiopian rain-forest consists of four II in 1897. Previously, Kaffa was an inde- stories of vegetation, three woody--emer- pendent kingdom, which closed its borders gents, canopy, and shrub---plus an herba- almost hermetically against the surrounding ceous layer. The Arabica coffee plant is a provinces of the . component of the shrub understory. Geographically, the Ethiopian rain-forest Rain-forest Habitat of C. arabica is disjunet from the broad evergreen forest in Southwestern Ethiopia belt of the Congo basin by the valley of the White Nile River. Until relatively recently, the southwestern were botanieally un- 2 Deceased, 1964. WILD COFFEA ARABICA FROM SOUTHWESTERN ETHIOPIA 141

Yemen--Priraary Dispersal Center oi turies was exported from the port of Mocha. Cultivated C. arabica Mountains of the interior rise to over 10,000 The people of southern Arabia, according feet and support groves of coffee in areas be- to some historians, learned to brew coffee tween 4000 and 7000 feet. Coffee from from the Persians, but documentary evidence Yemen first appeared in coffee houses of on this point is not clearly established. An Cairo about 1510. By the middle of the early account of the coffee plant in English 1600's, coffee houses had reached England. (Ellis 1774) is of interest: "Schehabeddin Relatively little has been published about Ben, an Arabian author of the ninth century the elite clones of C. arabica grown in Yem- of the Hegira, or fifteenth of the Christians, en, but the source of the material :now grown attributes to Gemaleddin, mufti of Aden, a there almost certainly originated in Ethi- city of Arabia Felix, who was nearly his opia. Reis (1914) lists 10 cultivars (vari- contemporary, the first introduction into that eties) found growing in the country. Reis country, of drinking coffee. He tells us, that and Bardey (1914) indicate that Arabica Gemaleddin, having occasion to travel into coffee plants in Yemen are grown on terraces Persia, during his abode there, saw some of and irrigated from wells. Sylvain (1956), his countrymen drinking coffee, which at as an FAO coffee specialist, visited Yemen that time he did not much attend to to make observations on cultural practices ere .... " No evidence exists that C. arabica and found six named clones in cultivation. ever was cultivated in old Persia, nor is the Yemen is the source of the genetic stock plant grown there today. of C. arabica now grown in Brazil and other In Arabic, "Kahwa" is the word for cof- parts of Latin America, Kenya, India, Java, fee, the derivation of which is uncertain. In and in other areas where the plant is culti- French, the word "Car6" is derived from the vated. From Yemen, the Arabiea coffee Turkish "IZahveh," and the English word plant was taken to Java, India, and Ceylon "Coffee" obviously is derived from the same in the late 17th and early 18th Centuries. source. In Ethiopia, "Coffee," the beverage, This was a triumph for the Dutch, especially is called "bun" or "buna," a word of Arabic since Yemenese planters guarded their origin, meaning wine. plants jealously. Once out of Yemen, the According to Chevalier (1929), the Arab- coffee plant spread rapidly to other parts ica coffee plant was cultivated on terraces of the world. About 1715, C. arabica was in Yemen for many centuries before it was introduced to Bourbon, now R6union, a known outside of that country. Gradually, small French island off the east coast of the plant spread from this locus to other Madagascar, where the highly productive parts of the world. As the plant became C. arabica (Bourbon) was discovered as a known in Europe, at the end of the 17th mutant seedling. In the New World, the Century, C. arc~bica was thought to be native coffee industry is said to have been estab- of Yemen. Linnaeus (1753) coined the name lished from a single plant of C. arabica in- C. arabica for a plant that he believed was troduced with difficulty to Martinique from native of Arabia Felix, a political division the Jardin des Plantes in Paris about 1720 of the southern Arabian peninsula consisting as a legacy of King Louis XIV. of Yemen, ttadramaut, Oman, and the Hasa The early introduction of C. arabica into tract. Actually, the plant is grown only in Yemen may well have been part of ~n ex- Yemen. The Ethiopian phase of C. arablca change of people and plant products be- was unknown to Linnaeus, although there tween the Arabian peninsula and Ethiopia were conflicting reports even in the 18th sometime after 575 A. D. (Wellman, 1961). Century that the coffee plant was probably Early Arab invasions are a significant part wild in Ethiopia. of Ethiopian history, and the existence of a Perhaps few countries of the world have Moslem area in Kaffa province today is been more remote and less visited by Euro- worth noting in this respect. peans than parts of the Arabian Peninsula, No evidence exists to show that C. arabica and Yemen still is infrequently visited by is now or ever has been wild in Yemen, at outsiders. The country long has been known least since the end of the Pleistocene. Fossil as the source of Mocha coffee, which for ten- material of the plant is unknown. 142 ECONOMIC BOTANY

Ethiopia--Dispersal Center of Wild More than 100 seed introductions of C. C. ~rabica arabica have been received by the United From time to time, authors and travelers States Department of Agriculture over the reported that C. arabica undoubtedly was a past 10 to 12 years from FAO and US/AID native plant of Ethiopia. Schehabeddin Ben, coffee specialists working in Ethiopia. Many 15th Century author (Ellis, 1774), writes of these collections were obtained from rain- that coffee had been drunk in Ethiopia from forests, but voucher herbarium specimens to time immemorial. This conflicts with modern document the original seed samples were not reports from Ethiopia, that coffee was not prepared. used as a beverage in that country until rel- Sylvain (1955, 1958), working with C. atively recently. In some parts of the coun- arabica ill Ethiopia~ compiled a useful de- try, the pulp of the fruit is still used to scriptive list of named C. arabica clones de- prepare a kind of cake. rived from indigenous Ethiopian coffee In the 16th and early 17th Centuries, the plants. The suggestion by Sylvain that the Portuguese maintained an embassy in Ethi- Arabica coffee plant is wild in the essentially opia, the only European power with diplo- treeless parts of northern Ethiopia is highly matic privileges at that time. So far as I am improbable. The evergreen, coriaceous drip- aware, the Portuguese left Ethiopia without tip leaves of C. arabica would associate this contributing any knowledge concerning the plant more clearly with rain-forest than with coffee plant. arid, treeless areas of northern Ethiopia. Botanical exploration in Ethiopia began The adaptability of the Arahian coffee plant with James Bruce, intrepid Scottish travel- to full sun in some areas where it is culti- er-naturalist~ first and only European to col- vated (viz. northern Ethiopia, Yemen, Bra- lect botanical specimens in Ethiopia in the zil, and Kenya) is, however, one of the more 18th Century. Bruce dwelt for five years remarkable adaptive aspects of this basic- (1768-1773) in northern Ethiopia, mostly ally heliophobic plant. at Gondar north of Lake Tana. In his now Chevalier (1947) regards C. arabica var. historic travels, Bruce (1790) mentions the abyssinica Chev. from northern Ethiopia as coffee plant, but no herbarium specimens to representing the wild phase of the plant. document the report are known to exist. Actually, the specimens seen by Chevalier Richard Quartin-Dillon and Antonio Petit represent cultivated plants of unknown ori- collected the first herbarium specimens of gin. The contention that the Arabica coffee C. arabica from cultivated plants growing plant is wild in the arid savanna country in northern Ethiopia in the 1830's. A. Rich- adjacent to the Atbara River in the north- ard in his "Tentamen Flora Abyssinieae" western part of Ethiopia or in any other (1848-51), prepared the first full descrip- northern area of the country is highly doubt- tion of C. ar~bica based on collections of ful. Areas adjacent to the Sobat River of Quartin-Dillon and Petit. Between 1837 and Sudan are said to support wild C. arabica~ ]863, A. W. Schimper collected widely in but this is probably incorrect. According to northern Ethiopia, and on several occasions H. F. Mooney (personal communication), he collected the Arabica coffee plant from the Arabica coffee plant is abundant in the cultivated material. rain-forest near the Baro River, the name During the Italian occupation of Ethiopia of the Sobat in Ethiopia. Chevalier prob. (1935-41), various Italian botanists visited ably is correct in pointing to the rain-forest Ethiopia and collected plants in the rain-for- areas between the Gojeb and Omo rivers as ests in the southwestern provinces of the supporting wild plants of C. arablca. country. Specimens of C. arabica collected in the forest areas are from cultivated Collections of C. arablca from plants. Southwestern Ethiopia, 1961-62 Cifferi (1940) lists the principal selections of C. arabica grown in northern Ethiopia at My collecting was limited to parts of this period without including data on the Kaffa, Illubabor, Wollega, and Shoa prov- rain-forest phase of the species found in inces. In Kaffa and IlIubabor, the plant is southwestern Ethiopia. often abundant as a component of the rain- WILD COFFEA ARABICA FR01~ SOUTHWESTERN ETHIOPIA 143

Fig. 1. Areas covered by diagonal lines in southwestern Ethiopia show, generally, the con- fines of the montane rain-forest, where C. arabica occurs as a spontaneous plant. Note areas marked Zeghie on Lake Tana in province and the Chercher Mrs. in Harar province, where C. arabica is cultivated extensively. Note also the Boma Plateau in southeastern Sudan and Mr. Marsabit in northern Kenya, localities where C. arabica may possibly be wild. forest flora. At Ghimbie in western Wollega Field Observations province, coffee is extensively grown in gal- 7754'~--Bada Buna (Kaffa Province). Dec. lery forest. At Walkitte, in Shoa province, 19. A well known station for semi-domesti- along the Jimma road, C. arabica is culti- cated coffee, located 6 mi. NE. of Jimma~ w~ted in full sun. about 5400 ft. alt., 7~ p N., 36~ p E. Rain- The maps (Figs. 1--4) show the areas vis- fall averages about 75 inches per year, but ited. 3Author's field nuraber. 144 ECONOMIC BOTANY

Fig. 2. Kaffa province. Areas in black show localities where collections of C. arabica were made. Slant lines show rain-forests, near Bonga, not visited where wild coffee plan~s probably occur. The northern limit of gallery forest is found between Jimma and Agaro.

the area supports only isolated segments of (Rosaceae), Rothmc~nnia urcelliformis (Ru- rain-forest on north hilIsides or as galiery biaeeae), Syzygium guineense (Myrtaeeae), forests along streams. The Arabica coffee Polyscias f ulva (Araliaceae), Oxyanthus plant was introduced to the Bada Buna for- speciosus (Rubiaceae), Croton macrostachys est ("buna" is the Ethiopian name for (Euphorbiaceae), Mimusops kummel (Sapo- coffee) many years ago, where it now thrives taceae), Schefflera abyssinica (Araliaeeae), and is naturalized. The only visible attempt Miltettia ferruginea (Leguminosae), and to cultivate the coffee plant in this locality some others. Common shrubs associated with consists of keeping the jungle cover from the coffee plant in the Bada Buna forest are swamping the coffee bushes. Coffee plants Maesa lanceolata (Myrsinaceae), Galiniera are spaced at intervals of 3 to 6 feet under- coffeoides (Rubiaceae), Ehretia cymosa (Ver- neath indigenous trees, which include Ceitis benaceae), Diphasia danielii (Rutaeeae), and africana (Ulmaceae), Pygeum africanum Acanthus eminens (Acanthaceae). WILD COFFEA ARABICA FROM SOUTHWESTER~ ETHIOPIA 145

Fig. 3. Kaffa province south of the Baeo River and to the north. C. arabica was collected in the area shown in solid black. The rain-forest spreads in all direc- tions from this point, south to Mesan Tefari and Gurrafarda.

Coffee plants in the Bada Buna forest the Coffee arabica cultivated in the New have been studied by Mr. Hugh Rouk of the World." Earlier, figures were presented to Agricultural and Technical School at Jimma show that self-fertility, homozygocity, and and by Dr. Edgar Anderson (1961), who the tendency to produce recessive mutations suggests that two loose complexes exist are traits limiting variability in coffee plants among semi-domesticated plants growing in growing in Brazil. Indications are that out- the Bada Buna forest. crossing in populations of coffee in rain- 1. Large, flattish, deep red, small scarred, forest districts of Ethiopia results in greater sharply tapering berries. variability than in coffee plants cultivated 2. Small, roundish, orange-red, large- ill Brazil. scarred, gently tapering berries. Anderson Collections made at Bada Buna show a suggests "there is taxonomically more varia- range of variation in fruit length and width tion between the coffee bushes than in all not significantly different from plants col 1-[6 ECONOMIC BOTANY

34 ~ 55 ~ 36 ~ 57 o 8o30'

I , 500,000 ] "

7o30'

GURRA~RDA

SUDAN # .. -""" '"'1 6o30 ' // Fig. 4. The distribution of C. arabica is limited to areas between the 3000 ft. and 6000 ft. contours.

letted at Bonga and at Teppi (see Table 1). Scheflflera abyssinica (Araliaceae), a tree of 7817--Jimma (Kaffa province). Dec. 25. the canopy layer with a diameter of 3 to 4 About 5 mi. NE. of Jimma, about 5250 ft. ft. Common in the understory shrub vege- alt. Arabica coffee plants are widely culti- tation .are Dracaena fragrans (Liliaceae), a vated in gallery forest, mostly south and shrub about 8 ft. tall and Uragoga ciliato- west of Jimma. Seedlings of coffee are stipulata (Rubiaeeae), a subshrub 12 to 18 planted about 3 ft. apart, which is too close inches tall with blue fruit. An herbaceous for profitable fruit production. Spread of plant, A f ramomum korarima (Zingiberac~ae), the plant is accelerated in this area, as it is a well known spice plant of Ethiopia, is com- elsewhere in the forest districts, by monkeys mon in this locality. and baboons. 7$50--Bonga. Dec. 30. The coffee plant 7836---Ghembo (Kaffa province). Dec. 28. is common near Seimens coffee mill, about A village about 10 mi. N. of Bonga along 6 mi. NW. of the Sudan Interior Mission. the Jimma road, about 5100 ft. alt., 7~ p At this locality, the number of coffee plants N., 36~ r E. The Arabica coffee plant is were counted in a measured plot 90 ft. by 75 both cultivated and spontaneous in this area. ft., to determine something concerning the 7846---Bonga (Kaffa province). Dee. 29. natural abundance of the coffee plant in the About 5100 ft. alt., 7~ ' N., 36~ ' E. Bonga area. Plants in every stage of devel- C. arabica is abundant in the forest above opment were encountered, including germi~ the Dentcha River; old plants with a trunk nating seeds and a total of 45 fruit-bearing diameter of 3 to 5 inches and 20 ft. tall were bushes, each 6 ft. to 15 ft. tall. Commercial not uncommon. Associated with the coffee planting of seedlings in the uncleared forest plant in this locality are scattered trees of is beginning to confuse the pattern of dis- WILl) COFFEA AICABICA FROM SOUTI1WESTERN ETIilOPIA 147

tribution of the Arabica coffee phmt in this f:,ciug .fiddle ;I,~(I ul)per u,oullt~du slopes region. above tile village. Giant specimens of' Poly- .~cias /',lea (Araliaceae), a noble tree with 7870--Bonga. Jan. 3. A site located 7.5 ashen grey pillared trunks, impart a cathe- mi. N. of the village, about 5340 ft. alt. dral-like character to this forest. Lianas Plants 6 to 15 ft. tall are approximately as which festoon the trunks of many trees, in- abundant in this locality as in several other elude Culcasia scandens (Araceae), a ram- sites visited in the Bonga district. pant aroid, and Gouania longispicata (Rham- 7879--Omeeh (Kaffa province). Jan. 1. naceae). One of the minor components of Site of a village located on the Jimma-Bonga this forest is C. arabica. Rarity of the cof- road, about 4 mi. SW. of the Gojeb River fee plant may be attributed to altitude, bridge, 70231 N., 36o20 ' E. A magnificent which, at about 6000 ft., is the upper alti- rain-forest is found on the steep north- tudinal limit of this species.

TABLE I

Fruit Length Fruit Diameter Calyx Diameter Pedicel Length

Buda Buna

(Jimma), 7754 ii.O-13.5~. Locular ~i~ 1.6-2.7~. 3.5-7.0 ram.

).O-11.5 m. 7.O-9.5m.

Teppi, 8040 12.0-15.0 ram. I0-ii ram. 8-9 ram. 1.6-2.4 ram. 4-5 ram.

Teppi, 8001 12-14 ~m. (-16 iO-ii ram. 7-8 maD. 1.6-2.4 ram. 3.5-4.0 ram.

Bonga, 7850 12-15 ,~a. 10-12 ram. 8-10 ram. 1.6-2.O ram. 4-6 m.

I El Ghimbie

(Wollega), 816( 12-14 mm. 10.O-14.5 .~m. 8-11 ram. 1.6-2.4 ram. 4.O-5.5~.

Jimma

(Kaffa), 7817 13-15 ram. I0-Ii ram. 1.8-2.0~. 4-5 m.

Agaro

(Kaffa), 7915 12-14 mm. 9.5-12.0 mm. 8.0-9.5~. 1.8-2.8~. 3.5-5.0 ram.

FRUIT MEASUREMENTS (DRY) OF C. ARABICA COLLECTED IN VARIOUS LOCALITIES of Teppi (unmarked oil any known map) is h)cated ill the heart of the rain-forest belt of southwestern Ethiopia. C. arabica is abundant in several sites visited. In general, a heavy forest cover characterizes the area. The terrain is of relatively low relief, except for isolated low-lying mountain peaks. Sev- eral rivers have dissected the area, but near Teppi the relatively flat land may offer op- portunities for modern coffee plantations. An airstrip provides direct service to Jim- ma. Rainfall of approximately 70 inches is fairly well distributed over the year, al- though concentrated principally from June to about October. Crop plants are tropical, but this region is not part of the lowland tropics. Cleared land is used for growing grain sorghum and maize, both food staples of the area. Manioc (Manihot esculenta) Fig. 5.C arabica in left foreground and in and sesame (Sesamum) are grown in village middle of photograph shows fruiting plants in gardens. Around 'tukals' (round thatched secondary forest near Teppi. Illubabor province. Wild coffee plants are abundant in this area. houses of the native people) the Ethiopian cabbage, Brassica carinata A. Br., is much grown as a source of seed oil for household 7915--Jimma-Agaro (Kaffa Province). cooking and for greens in soup. The pulse Jan. 5. Plantings of Arabica coffee are com- crops (legumes), teff (Eragrostis teff), and mon in gallery forest under large specimens other cereal grains widely grown in the high of Albizzia schimperiana (Mimosaceae), plateau to the north cannot be grown suc- about 10 mi. NW. of Jimma along the low cessfully in rain-forest districts. road to Agaro, about 5400 ft. alt. Isolated Iu the Teppi area, C. arabica is grown specimen plants of C. arabica~ 20 ft. tall and around most houses, but the main coffee har- about 8 inches in diameter possibly are vest is derived from spontaneous plants in relict wild plants. It is entirely possible that the rain-forest. In this region, C. arablca wild coffee once grew in the gallery forest is extremely verdant and often of large size. near Jimma prior to invasion of the area by Plants 25 ft. tall and nearly I ft. in di- commercial interests some years ago. One ameter at ground level often are swathed long-time Greek resident at Agaro told me in moss, epiphytic orchids and ferns, such as Playtcerium angolense and Microsorium that coffee as a commercial crop dates back punetatum. about only 40 years in that district, while cultivation of the plant on a major scale Coffee as handled for the commercial mar- ket in the Teppi area epitomizes the tech- dates from about 1950. nique of "cultivation" found in forest dis- 7930--Ghembi (Kaffa Province). Jan. 7. tricts of southwestern Ethiopia. Coffee is Coffee is grown in gallery forest along the now harvested from nearly every available Jimma-Agaro road under large specimens of bush throughout rain-forest areas largely Albizzia schimperiana, at about 5360 ft. alt. from the fact that slightly over 50% of the The coffee harvest is greatly reduced under national product of Ethiopia is derived from such conditions because plantings are over- the export of Arabica coffee. Collection of crowded. fruit from wild coffee plants consists first of exposing the bare earth underneath the 8001--Teppi (Illubabor province). Jan. bushes. Most of the crop is hand picked, but 14. About 5 mi. NW. of Teppi airstrip, some fruit falls to the ground, and this, too, 3960 ft. alt., 7~ ' N.~ 35018 p E. The village is used as part of the harvest; also~ the bare WILD COFFEA ARABICA FROM SOUTHWESTERN ETHIOPIA 149 ground provides a seed bed for seedlings 8128--Gliimbie (Wollega province). Jan. which are transidanted to other sites in the 31. (Ibilnbic, at about 6000 ft. alt., 9~ ' forest. By this method, variants that other- N., 35~ ' E., is a center for cultivated cof- wise nfight never survive are brought into fee. llere, the plant is cultivated extensive- "cultivation." As a crop plant, however, ly in gallery forest in the vicinity of the C. arabica may have only just emerged on town. According to local growers, the plant- a long path toward "ultimate" domestica- ing stock originated from indigenous plants tion, as compared with some other well found in rain-forests to the south. known domesticated plants long cultivated in Ethiopia, such as teff, sorghum, barley, Co,existence of the Coffee Rust Fungus and the common pea. (Hemileia vastatrix) and C. arabica in Southwestern Ethiopia 8020--Baco I-liver (lllubabor-Kaffa 8019, In the New World, the coffee rust fungus province border). Jan. 15. The Baco River (1t. vastatrix) is unknown. However, in the is one of the tributaries of the Sobat, a size- Old World the fungus continues to ravage able tributary of the Wtfite Nile. At an alti- the Arabica coffee plant in at least 37 coun- tude of 3030 ft., the river flows through a tries of the Eastern Hemisphere (Wellman, V-shaped gorge several hundred feet deep, 1961). The coffee rust fungus is thought to with dense rain-forest on each side. On the be indigenous to Ethiopia, but now it oc- Kaffa, or south bank, the enset plant (En- curs in nearly all areas of Africa where C. sete cd~de), the false banana, is wild. On arabica is grown, although spread of the rust the Illubabor side, plants of C. arabica occur into areas of Africa outside of Ethiopia is about 100 yds. above the river. said to be of relatively recent date. In the 8096--Walkitte (Shoa province). Jan. Eastern ttenlisphere, the rust fungus was 23. A locality about 80 mi. S. of Addis first detected in Ceylon in 1869 and soon Ababa, about 5400 ft. alt. 8~ ' N., 37047 ' thereafter in Java; within about 20 years, it E. In this region, C. arabica is cultivated brought doom to the commercial production by the in full sun or under of Arabica coffee in these areas. No record plants of enset (Ensete edule). Rainfall of exists for the occurrence of the fungus in about 57 inches per year is concentrated Yemen, nor is there any record of how the wholly in the short but intense rainy season fungus originally got into Ceylon. from June to Septenlber. Size of fruit and Although the coffee rust fungus and the leaves in some clones of coffee grown here coffee plant occur sympatrieally in Ethiopia, show a close relationship with spontaneous the fungus appears not to be a problem in plants found in rain-forest districts to the rain-forest districts. southwest. Fungi Collected on C. arabica in 8097--Walkitte. C. arabica 'Arore', Jan. Rain-forests of Ethiopia 23. The nearly spherical fruit is a distinc- Determinations by J. A. Stevenson, Na- tive characteristic of this named clone. Noth- tional ~'ungus Collections, Beltsville, Mary- ing found in the wild approached it in size land. or in shape. When fresh, the fruit averaged 16 mm long by 15 mm wide, with a much 8009--Hemileia vastatrix Berk. & Br. Jan. darker red pericarp than in other clones 15. The urediospore stage of the fungus cultivated in this locality. A clone of high found on C. arabica near the Teppi airstrip, productivity in full sun. Illubabor province, 396 ~ ft. alt., 7~ 35~ p E. Only the urediospore stage of the 8098--Walkitte. C. arabica (Chercher', fungus is known. Perhaps the aecial stage Jan. 23. According to the farmer who grew will turn up in Ethiopia, if, indeed, the fun- it, this clone originally came from the Cher- gus is indigenous there. eher Mountains of Harar Province in east- ern Ethiopia. The fruit of this clone aver- 8014--Aschersonia goldiana. Sacc.& Ell. aged relatively longer, about 16 mm long, Parasitic on scale insects found on C. arab- and narrower, about 11 mm wide, than in ica (see Meyer 8013). Not an uncommon wild coffee found in rain-forest districts. fungus with characteristic yellow spherical I50 ECONOMIC BOTANY spore arcas surrounded by a white halo on exist harmoniously in rain-forests of Ethi- the lower leaf' surfaee. opia, which streugthens the case for Ethi- opia as the modern center of dispersal of 8020--Ascherso~ia goldiaua, Sate. & Ell. the Arabian coffee plant. On leaves of C. arabica found along the Baco River (see Meyer 8019). Acknowledgments Ethiopian frieuds and others on the Ethi- Summary ol)ian Coffee Board added immeasurably to Co]lea arabica L., the Arabica coffee plant, the success of my trip. Various people in long known as a cultivated plant only, is now the US/AID mission in Ethiopia offered being documented as a wild plant for the valuable help, especially Mr. Hugh Rouk, first time. This plant, more especially the Mr. Irwin Siegenthaler, and Mr. Robert beverage coffee, came into prominence soon Meisner of the Agricultural and Technical after the beginning of the 16th Century in School at Jimma. Also, I am indebted to the Cairo and a little later in Europe. Yemen Director and staff, Royal Botanic Gardens, was the traditional source of Mocha coffee Kew, for assistance in naming plants that uuLil seeds of the plant were taken to Java I collected as associates of the coffee plant. at the end of the 17th Century to begin an Bibliography important industry in that island country. Anderson, E. 1961. The analysis of variation in Traditionally, Ethiopia has been regarded cultivated plants with special reference as the center of origin of the Arabiea coffee to introgression. Euphytica 10: 79-86. plant, yet authentic records of wild plants Bouharmont, J. 1959. Reeherehes sur les affin- based upon documented material are not it,s chroumsomiques dans le genre available in the older collections. On a trip Coffea. L'Inst. Nat. pour l'Etude Agron. to Ethiopia in 1961-62, I made the first seri- du Congo Belge (I. N. E. A. C.) 77: 1-94. ous attempt to document C. arabica from Breitenbaeh, F. 1961. Forest and woodlands of rain-forest areas of the country, where the Ethiopia. Ethiopian Forestry Review. plant occurs spontaneously in many places. n.1, 5-16. An interpretation of field data tends to Bruce, James. 1790. Travels to discover the show : source of the Nile, 1768-1773. 5 vols. (1) That the Arabiea coffee plant (C. Edinburgh. arabica) is abundant as a spontaneous com- Carvalho, A. 1952 Taxonomia de Coffea ponent of the rain-forest between 3000 and arabica L. VI. Caracteres morfologieos dos haploides. Bragantia 12: 201-212. 6000 ft. alt. in parts of Kaffa and Illubabor Chevalier, A. 1929. Les caf~iers du globe, F ase. provinces in southwestern Ethiopia. 1, G6n6ralit6s sur les eaf6iers. Paul (2) That modern man's role in the domes- bechevalier, Paris. 196 p. tication of C. arabica in rain-forest districts ----. 1947. Les eaf6iers du globe, Fast. 3, of Ethiopia may date from relatively recent Syst6matique des caf~iers et faux- times. In no way can coffee be considered a eaf~iers maladies et inseetes nuisibles. refined crop in these districts, as are some Paul Leehevalier, Paris. 356 p. food plants of the area, such as sorghum, Cifferi, Raffaele. 1940. Primo repporto sul c'(ffe maize, Ethiopian mustard, and the pulse nell'Afriea orientale Italiana. Mono- graph 60. Instituto Agronomieo per 1' plants. Africa Italiana, Florence. (3) That genetic variability in coffee Ellis, John. 1774. An historical account of plants in rain-forest districts of Ethiopia coffee, 71 p. probably is much greater than in coffee London. Food and Agriculture Organization plants grown in Latin America and in other of the United Nnticns (FAO). 1961. areas of the world where C. arabica is culti- The world coffee economy. Commodity vated. Yemen was the major germ plasm Bulletin Series 33. 76 p. Frqneo, C. M. 1939. Relation between chromo- center of cultivated Arabiea coffee until a some number and stomata in Coffea. Bot. decade or two ago. But the coffee plant is Gaz. 11: 817-827. not a native of Yemen. Krug, C. A. and Carvalho, A. 1951. The (4) That the coffee rust fungus (Hecni- genetics of Coffea. Advanees in Genetics leia vastatrix) and C. arabica appear to co- 4: 127-158. WILD COFFEA ARABICA FROI~ $OUTItWESTERlq ETttIOPIA 15].

Krug, C. A., Mendes, J. E. T., Carvalho, A. versity of Wisconsin 1)ress. Madison, 1939. Taxonomia de Coffea arabica L. Wisconsin. Boletim T~cnieo n. 62, Instituto Agro- Stebbins, G. L. 1950. Variation and evolution n6mico Estado, Campinas, Brazil, n. 62, in plants. Columbia University Press, 2-57. New York. 643 p. Linnaeus, C. 1737. Genera plantarum. Leiden. ----. 1957. Self-fertilization and population --. 1753. Species plantarum. Stockholm. variability in the higher plants. The Logan, W. E. M. 1946. An introduction to the American Naturalist 91 (861) : 337-354. forests of Central and Southern Ethi- Strenge, H. v. 1956. Wild coffee in Kaffa prov- opia. Institute paper 24, Imp. Forestry ince of Ethiopia. Tropical Agri. 38: Inst. Oxford University. (4) : 297-301. Meyer, Frederick G. 1963. Wild Coffea arabica Sylvain, Pierre G. 1955. Some observations on L.--The problem in retrospect, with re- Co,lea arabica L. in Ethiopia. Tur- cent observations on spontaneous plants rialba 5 (1-2): 37-53. in southwestern Ethiopia. Coffee and ----. 1956. Le Caf6 du Y6men. l'Agronomie Tea Industries. pp. 17-20 (Oct.); pt. 2, Tropicale 11: 62-73. pp. 19-26 (Nov.). --. 1958. Ethiopian coffee--its significance to world coffee problems. Econ. Bot. Narasimhaswamy, 1~. L. 1962. Some thoughts 12: 111-130. on the origin of Coffea arabica L. Coffee Thonms, A. S. 1942. The wild arabica coffee 4 (12): 1-5. Turrialba, Costa ]~ica. on the Boma Plateau, Anglo-Egyptian Narasimhaswamy, R. L., and Vishveshwara, S. Sudan. Empire Journal of Exp. Agri. (in press). Progress report on hybrids 10(40) : 207-212. between diploid species of Coffea L. Ullendorff, Edward. 1960. The . Richard, A. 1848-51. Tentamen Flora Abys- Oxford University Fress, Oxford. 232 p. sinieae. Paris. Vegetation map of Africa south of the Tropic Richards, P. W. 1952. The tropical rain forest. of Cancer. 1958. Under auspices of the Cambridge, England. 450 p. Association pour l'Etude Taxonomique Ries, Maurice. 1914. About mocha coffee. The de la Flore d'Afrique Tropicale and Tea and Coffee Trade Journal. 23-25. published with the assistance of (Jan.). U.N.E.S.C.O. Printed in England by Ries, Maurice & Bardey, Pierre. 1914. Mocha Cook, Hammond & Kell, London. coffee culture. The Tea and Coffee Trade Wellman, Frederick L. 1961. Coffee: Botany, Journal. 20-23. (Jan.). Cultivation, and Utilization. World Simoons, Frederick, J. 1960. Northwest Ethi- Crops Books. Leonard Hill, London and opia, peoples and economy. The Uni- New York. 488 p.