Psychotria nervosa
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Shiny-leaf Wild-coffee, Wild Coffee
Rubiaceae
Plant Specifics
Form: | Shrub | |
Size: | 2.0 to 6.0 ft tall by 1.5 to 3.0 ft wide | |
Life Span: | Long-lived perennial | |
Flower Color: | White | |
Fruit Color: | Red,green,brown | |
Phenology: | Evergreen. Blooms and fruits year round except during cold or drought. | |
Noted for: | Showy flowers, Showy fruits, Interesting foliage |
Landscaping
Recommended Uses: | Small specimen plant, foundation planting, general cover plant in shaded areas. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Considerations: | Wild Coffee does not like constant full sun. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Propagation: | Readily self-seeds, seeds can be collect from fruit and should be planted after last frost in cold areas. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Availability: | Native nurseries, FNPS plant sales, Seed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Light: | Part Shade, Shade | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Moisture Tolerance: |
always floodedextremely dry |
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(Usually moist, occasional inundation ----- to ----- Short very dry periods) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Moisture Tolerance: | Usually moist, occasional inundation ----- to ----- Short very dry periods | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Salt Water Flooding Tolerance: | Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Salt Spray/ Salty Soil Tolerance: | Some tolerance to salty wind but not direct salt spray. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Soil or other substrate: | Loam, Lime rock, Sand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Soil pH: | 6.1 to 7.5 |
Ecology
Wildlife: |
Birds like the fruit. | |
Insects: | Nectar plant for atala (Eumaeus atala), great southern white (Ascia monuste), julia (Dryas iulia), Schaus' swallowtail (Heraclides aristodemus), and other butterflies. Attracts pollinators including a variety of bees and wasps, flies, and beetles. | |
Native Habitats: | Dry mesic to xeric hammock, high areas in swamps, coastal shell mounds, pine flatwoods. |
Distribution and Planting Zones
Natural Range in Florida
USDA Zones
Suitable to grow in:
10A 10B 11 9A 9B

USDA zones are based on minimum winter temperatures
Comments
Ethnobotany: | This is not a coffee substitute (Pinkley 1969; Austin 2004). Its common name is may be a reference to some visual similarity to coffee | |
General Comments: | Sensitize to cold weather. |