The Coffee Tree is a native of the Indies, grows surprisingly quick, and its body is naturally of an upright form; its leaves are something like those of the common bay, but curl at the end and hang downwards. The blossoms first appear in July, when they show themselves in bunches at the joints, near the ends of the branches; they are much like the flowers of the jessamine, but have the addition of some yellow apices, which are loose on the top of the blossom, and a style which shoots out near half an inch above it. The fruit appears about October, which hangs on the tree till the next July before it is ripe: it is then gathered and prepared for the market, or for propagating other plants. Coffee is, perhaps, one of the greatest blessings, among those that are not really necessaries of life, that Providence has granted to mankind; and, considering its beneficial qualities as well as its agreeable properties, it should be ranked among the most elegant plants, in foliage, blossom, and fruit. It is a wholesome, pleasant, and cheap beverage, and of great use in many disorders. The origin of the use of coffee is stated to be as follows. A prior of a monastery in the part of Arabia where this berry grows, having remarked that the goats which eat of it became extremely brisk and alert, resolved to try the experiment on his monks, of whom he so continually complained for their lethargic propensities. The experiment turned out successful; and, it is said, it was owing to this circumstance that the use of this Arabian berry came to be so universal.
The Banian Tree is a native of several parts of the East Indies. It has a woody stem, branching to a great height and vast extent, with heart-shaped entire leaves, ending in acute points. Of this tree the following lines of Milton contain a description equally beautiful and just.
“There soon they chose
The fig tree; not that tree for fruit renown’d,
But such as at this day to Indians known
In Malabar or Decan, spreads her arms,
Branching so broad and long, that in the ground
The bended twigs take root and daughters grow
About the mother tree, a pillar’d shade,
High over arch’d and echoing walks between;