PlantFiles: Wild Coffee
Psychotria nervosa

Grows wild all over Central Florida. One of the more common understory shrubs east of Orlando. Vouchered specimens all the way up into Duval and Alachua counties in North Florida.

I just bought 3 Wild Coffee plants for my south Florida garden. The main branches have split outer bark and the some of the leaves have brown, dried tips. I don't know the cause of these symptoms. I will plant in a well-drained, weekly irrigated, shady area under some oaks. I also sprayed for "bugs"??.

I have had little problem germinating this plant from seed. Collect seeds when fully ripe and immediately place in germination pot covered with about 1/4" of common garden soil. I observed about 50-70% germination. Seed is slow to germinate (about 2-6 months). Allow to develop 2-4 permanent leaves before transplanting to permanent location.

I have to disagree with the zone hardiness listed for this plant. I've had it growing under some large oak trees in zone 9 for several years and, other than slight burning of new leaves, it hasn't suffered any set backs from the freezes we get here.

Very easy to grow, lovely foilage, flowers and berries!

Easy to grow addition to a Florida garden one wants to fill with native plants. It is however not psychoactive. Those psychotria are native to South America.

The name Psychotria comes from South American species that has psycho-active compounds, and are used in hallucinogenic drugs, some of which are even deadly; nervosa refers to the many veins in the leaves. I don´t know either why it´s called "Wild Coffee", since it doesn´t looks very much like Coffea arabica.

Very easy to propagate a "leggy" plant using mound layering.

I've always been struck by how much this plant looks like the real deal. Probably couldn't tell the leaves apart in the dark. But if its berries do not contain caffeine, I wonder how [and why] did it get the botanical name Psychotria nervosa.

This is a great substitute for it's close relative the gardenia. It does not require the acidic soil and special fertilizers that gardenias do. The flowers are slightly fragrant and the red berries are eaten by wildlife. The seeds can be roasted and ground to brew coffee, though they do not contain any caffiene. The seeds will germinate readily. It does best in light shade or partial sun, and the leaves are deeper green when grown in those conditions. They tend to lighten and turn more yellow when in the sun.

This Florida native has shiny leaves that are markedly veined, white flowers & red fruit. The flowers attract butterflies and the fruit is a favorite of cardinals and blue jays.
It will grow in full sun as a compact plant or will get loose and fairly leggy in moderate shade. Wild coffee was once used as a coffee substitute.
It makes a great container plant.