Key West Literary Seminar

Now blooming at the Elizabeth Bishop Garden — two kinds of wild coffee. The beauties of our native plants can be "a little hard to see" (to borrow a phrase from Wallace Stevens) and coffee flowers are a great example. Look for tiny, white, star-shaped flowers on the Shiny-leaved Wild Coffee (Psychotria nervosa), only a quarter-inch across, emerging in clusters at the center of new leaves, which are shiny with prominent veins. Those on Bahama Wild Coffee (Psychotria ligustrifolia) are even smaller, barely blooming at all. Both will turn to berries later on, nervosa in a showy bright-red, and ligustrifolia in a more subdued burgundy. Look close, and you'll see leaves in “all the different shades of green,” as Bishop remarked.

Both plants are in the same genus as the one that makes the "gallons of coffee" that keep writers going — from the Greek "Psychotria" meaning "to give life." Sadly, these native berries have no caffeine. Both are now rare in the wild, and Psychotria ligustrifolia is on Florida's endangered species list.

Join director Arlo Haskell on Wednesday mornings at 8:30 for "Miracle for Breakfast," a look at what's blooming at the Bishop Garden. Or stop by on your own, weekdays from 10am–3pm.