PART 11. : 
1898 that the name Coffea robusta appeared. That was the name 
applied to a specimen of coffee sent from Congo to Brussels and 
discovered there by the Belgian Botanist Emil Laurent. de Wildman 
describes a Robusta Coffee from the Gaboon as C. canephora; 
Zimmermann of Amani described the Bukoba Coffee C. bukobensis and 
the coffee of Uganda native gardens has been named by some authority 
C. ugandae. 
There is a great deal of variation among Robusta plants and that 
no doubt has led to considerable confusion in nomenclature. Among 
the trees in native gardens in Uganda one can find trees with long 
and narrow leaves, others with broad leaves, trees also with very 
small cherry, others with large. The differences are very marked 
indeed, so marked that to attach varietal names to them would be 
quite justifiable. 
We have seen that Robusta Coffee has been found in the Congo 
and Gaboon. These localities are no doubt the natural home of the 
plant. Tt extends in its distribution to forest of the Semuliki valley 
and to the forests of the Western Province of Uganda, where it is 
exploited by the natives. It is doubtful if it occurs at all as a 
natural plant in Buganda proper. 
1 know it occurs in some of the forests of the Lake region and also 
further inland. I have seen these trees and they appear to me to be 
too localised and too near habitation to indicate a wild habit; they do 
now nevertheless exist as wild plants. 
The Baganda themselves have a tradition that their Coffee came 
from the north with their first traditional King ** Kintu.”” In a recent 
letter from the Agricultural Officer in Southern Sudan I am informed 
that Robusta Coffee occurs wild in the highlands of Mongalla. So 
this fact would seem to confirm the theory regarding the origin of 
their coffee. 
Now all this goes to shew that Robusta Coffee is a fairly widely 
distributed plant under native condition in central Tropical Africa, 
and when we hear of Robusta Coffee, Uganda Coffee, Bukoba Coffee, 
and Congo Coffee, we shall know that we are dealing with one and 
the same group. 
In 1902 specimens from a coffee bush 20ft. high in a native garden 
in Entebbe, were sent to Kew and were described as Robusta Coffee. 
The discovery of robusta in the Congo in 1898 was very opportune, 
as the great Coffee producing countries of the East were looking for a 
hardy type to take the place of the Arabica Coffee, the exports of 
which were being gradually diminished owing to the blight Hemileia 
vastatriz. In this connection I shall quote from the Tropical 
Agriculturalist, Vol. 44, 1917, page 314. 
When the blight in Java appeared coffee-growing was one of 
the most important industries in that island, and after the 
plantations had been destroyed by the disease, the Dutch Govern- 
ment having failed to control the blight by repressive measures, 
instituted investigations with a view to discovering a blight- 
resistant coffee, in the course of which work several species were 
introduced and tested. Among these were Liberian coffee (Coffea 
liberica) and robusta coffee, considered by WiLpEMAN to be a 
variety of Coffea canephora. 
3