Wild Coffea Species Database

The Bassin-Martin CRB Collection (Biological Resources Center of Bassin-Martin), La Réunion

The Kianjavato Collection, Madagascar

The Mahajanga Collection, Madagascar

The Specific Case of Psilanthus Species:

Coffee trees (Coffea genus) are woody plants belonging to the Rubiaceae family. Within this family and, in particular, the Coffeeae tribe, the position of the genus Psilanthus appears problematic because for a long time, it was considered as "false coffee trees." Consequently, they are nearly absent from the world's main living collections. Psilanthus, present on the African continent, Asia (India, Sri Lanka, tropical and South-East Asia), and Oceania (Northern Australia) but absent from the islands of the West Indian Ocean (Madagascar, Mascarenes, and Comoros), constitutes the closest phylogenetic group to Coffea (Robbrecht and Manen, 2006). Its status, established by Hooker (1873), confirmed by Chevalier (1947) and Leroy (1981), accepted by Stoffelen (1998), Khumar et al. (2008), has been refuted by Davis et al (2011). Thus, according to the latter proposition, coffee trees are represented by the 103 species of the genus Coffea (including the group of Baracoffea, endemic to the west coast of Madagascar) and the 21 Psilanthus species (see distribution map for each species); the new genus being called Coffea (introducing a possible source of confusion). In this database, we decide to present the species as before Davis et al (2011), but with the new name as synonyms to avoid any source of confusion. This doesn’t mean indeed that the proposition of Davis et al (2011) was refuted here.

Coffea: Multiple Sources of Name Confusions:

Another source of confusion is the justified or unjustified acceptance of synonymies. While it is generally accepted that Psilanthus minor is, in fact, P. sapinii or that Coffea vaughanii is C. myrtifolia, the synonymies of some Malagasy species reported in Davis et al (2006) remain problematic. However, these species appear under their original name in living collections and in various works. To avoid any confusion, we have chosen here to list all the species that have been described, to indicate synonymies where they exist and to treat all species individually. In addition, some species collected in the 1980s (Anthony et al. 1985, de Namur et al. 1987) have still not been described although they have been the subject of morphological and genetic studies (Bontems, 1990; Groell 1991, Baranski 1997, Hamon et al. 2017; Guyeux et al., 2019). They are maintained in the living collections of Côte d'Ivoire and Reunion Island. Finally, if 124 species were formally identified, 141 taxa could be taken into account (Couturon et al. 2016) and considered here. Most of these species are outcrossing species, with the exception of C. arabica (self-compatible and mostly self-fertilization), C. anthonyi, and C. heterocalyx for Coffea strictu-sensi and two species in the Psilanthus group.

Protection Needs for Coffea Species:

Davis et al (2006), considering only the "ex-Coffea" species, classified 14 (8 Malagasy and 6 African) as almost endangered, 23 as vulnerable (8 Malagasy, 2 Mauritian, and 13 African), 38 as endangered (30 Malagasy, 2 Mauritian, and 6 African), and 19 as seriously threatened (12 Malagasy and 7 African). There is no doubt that 12 years later, this observation has only worsened (Davis et al., 2019). Another observation concerns the protection of these species. The three largest living collections of wild coffee trees contain only 54.6% of the species. Two of these ex situ collections (located in the research station of the Centre National de Recherche en Agronomie de Divo, Côte d'Ivoire, and the Centre de Ressources Biologiques (CRB) of Bassin-Martin in Reunion Island are almost redundant in terms of the wealth of African species. However, the CRB in Bassin-Martin stands out from the others due to the presence of species collected in Reunion Island, Mauritius, and Mayotte by E. Couturon and collaborators in 2010. The third, located in the research station of the National Centre for Applied Research for Rural Development (FOFIFA) in Kianjavato, Madagascar, is unique. It includes the majority of Madagascar's endemic species with the exception of species (ex Baracoffea) endemic to the west coast of Madagascar. These species remain outside of any ex-situ collection.

To search for a species in the Coffee Species database, you have two primary methods:

1. General Species Table:

   • Navigate to the "Species" web page.
   • The general species table is displayed in alphabetical order.
   • Browse through the table to find information on various species.

2. Search Option:

   • On the left side of the "Species" web page, use the search option for a more specific single species search.
   • Enter criteria such as Species names, Section, presence in living collection, or species name synonymy.

Upon obtaining search results, the information is presented in three panels on the Result page:

1. Detail Table:

   • Species: Taxonomy (accepted name)
   • Section: Mozambicoffea / Eucoffea / Mascarocoffea / Psialthis Africa / Psilanthus Asia
   • Presence in living collection (BassinMartin or Kianjavato)
   • IUCN red list
   • Global Biodiversity Information Facility: Direct link to the species
   • Synonymy (species name): synonymy or formal temporary name (IRD)
   • Reference publication: Publication of species description
   • Literature proposed in Davis et al., 2006: Additional reference for general information about the species (From Davis et al., 2006)
   • Distribution: Geographic distribution
   • Habitat/Ecology: Ecology of the species
   • Caffeine content in beans (% dmb): extracted data from literature
   • Caffeine content in leaves (% dmb) extracted data from literature
   • Trigonelline (% dmb) extracted data from literature
   • ACG (% dmb) extracted data from literature
   • Sucrose (% dmb) extracted data from literature
   • Mangiferin content in beans (unpublished data)
   • Mangiferin content in leaves (% dry weight): extracted data from literature
   • Ripening time in months: Data from Malagasy species
   • Reference ripening for species not in collection
   • Ripen fruits color
   • Foliar dimensions in cm
   • Pollen pictures (New)
   • Genome size (Mbp) 1C
   • References for genome size
   • Genotyping by sequencing data: Data from Hamon et al., 2017. Access to the Dryad site for downloading
   • Illumina sequencing data (length, amount of data): Sequenced species using Illumina. Not public but available upon request.
   • Chloroplast complete genomes: Availability of complete chloroplast genome. Guyeux et al., 2019; Charr et al. 2020.
   • Complete nuclear genomes: Available complete nuclear genomes.
   • Other information

2. Geographical Map:

   • A geographical map is provided, highlighting the proposed distribution of the species.

3. Photo Gallery:

   • A photo gallery showcases different views of the species, including whole trees, leaves, flowers, fruits, etc.

The data from this site can be downloaded using the following links:

1. High-Quality Photos:

   • Dataverse IRD
   • https://doi.org/10.23708/JZA8I2

2. Chloroplast Genome Sequences:

   • Dataverse IRD
   • https://doi.org/10.23708/KWRIJJ

3. Text Tables and Internal Links:

   • Zenodo
   • http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3899717

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• This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
• Attribution: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. This should be done in a reasonable manner, without suggesting the licensor endorses you or your use.
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Citation Requirements:

• The DOI and the copyrights must be cited in any publications or websites using this dataset.
• Reference the scientific publication: Guyot et al., 2020 Database.

Use of Image Set on Another Website:

• For the use of the image set on another website, it is strongly recommended to contact the authors of the database and pictures.

Unpublished Genomic Data:

• The availability of unpublished genomic data may be examined upon request.