The Bassin-Martin site

Established between 2008 and 2011, this collection represents the comprehensive assembly of wild coffee trees from Africa, collected by IRD (formerly ORSTOM) and its partners in the 1970s and 1980s. It was subsequently established in Côte d'Ivoire at the station of the Centre National de la Recherche Agronomique (CNRA) in Divo. The collection also includes species found in the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius and Reunion Island) and the Comoros archipelago (also belonging to the Mascarocoffea group), recently surveyed by E. Couturon and partners.

In total, this collection comprises 700 individuals representing 35 species, including 19 from six West and Central African countries (Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Angola); eight from East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique), and five from the "small" islands of the West Indian Ocean (Mauritius, Reunion, and Mayotte).

West and Central African coffee trees (Eucoffea group, Knight 1942) inhabit the evergreen tropical rainforests from West to East, spanning from Guinea "Conakry" to Uganda, and from North to South, from the Central African Republic to Angola.

East African coffee trees (Mozambicoffea group, Knight 1942) are found east of the Great Rift Valley, from Kenya to southern Mozambique, in high and lowland forests, as well as in wooded savannahs.

The endemic coffee trees of the Mascarenes and Comoros (Mascarocoffea group) occupy forest habitats of varying altitude and humidity (ranging from 150 to 1200m, in a dry to very humid environment).

The Collection is organized into a CRB (Centre de Ressources Biologiques) called CRB Coffea. Information are available at : http://florilege.arcad-project.org/fr/crb/coffea/crb-coffea