The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules and sympetalous actinomorphic flowers. The family contains about 13,500 species in about 620 genera, which makes it the fourth-largest angiosperm family. Rubiaceae has a cosmopolitan distribution; however, the largest species diversity is concentrated in the tropics and subtropics. Economically important genera include Coffea, the source of coffee, Cinchona, the source of the antimalarial alkaloid quinine, ornamental cultivars, and historically some dye plants.
Uncaria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It has about 40 species. Their distribution is pantropical, with most species native to tropical Asia, three from Africa and the Mediterranean and two from the neotropics. They are known colloquially as gambier, cat's claw or uña de gato. The latter two names are shared with several other plants. The type species for the genus is Uncaria guianensis.
Gentianales is an order of flowering plant, included within the asterid clade of eudicots. It comprises more than 20,000 species in about 1,200 genera in 5 families. More than 80% of the species in this order belong to the family Rubiaceae.
Genipa is a genus of trees in the family Rubiaceae. This genus is native to the American tropical forests.
Manettia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. There are between 80 and 123 species. They are distributed in the West Indies, Mexico, and Central and South America. Most are vines. The genus was named after Saverio Manetti.
Houstonia (bluet) is a genus of plants in the family Rubiaceae. Many species were formerly classified, along with other genera since segregated elsewhere, in a more inclusive genus Hedyotis.
Canthium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. They are shrubs and small trees. The leaves are deciduous and the stems are usually thorny.
Guettarda is a plant genus in the family Rubiaceae. Most of these plants are known by the common name velvetseed.
Phialanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. There are about 20 species, 17 of which occur in Cuba.
Vanguerieae is a tribe of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae and contains about 655 species in 30 genera. It is one of the most species-rich groups within the family and it is distributed across the Paleotropics.
Atractocarpus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. Its members are commonly known as native gardenias in Australia. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek terms atractos "spindle", and karpos "fruit", from the spindle-shaped fruit of the type species.
Chione is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing the single species Chione venosa. It is native to the neotropics, occurring in most of Mexico, and throughout Central America, the Caribbean, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is typically a tree growing 10 to 20 meters tall. In harsh habitats, it may be dwarfed and shrubby. It has no known economic use.
Acrobotrys is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It was described by Karl Moritz Schumann and Kurt Krause in 1908. The sole species is Acrobotrys discolor, which is endemic to Colombia.
Arcytophyllum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus contains 18 species, distributed from New Mexico to Bolivia.
Bremeria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It was described in 2005 to accommodate all the Indian Ocean species formerly placed in Mussaenda, except the widespread Mussaenda arcuata. The genus is indigenous to Madagascar, Mauritius and Réunion, and is found in humid to subhumid evergreen forests.
Chiococceae is a tribe of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae which contains about 233 species in 27 genera. Most representatives occur from southern Florida to tropical and subtropical America, except for the genera Badusa and Bikkia, which are found from the Philippines to the West Pacific, and Morierina and Thiollierea, which are native to New Caledonia. The tribe Catesbaeeae is now included within Chiococceae.
Ixoroideae is a subfamily of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae and contains about 4000 species in 27 tribes.
Sabiceeae is a tribe of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae and contains about 164 species in 7 genera. Its representatives are found in tropical Africa, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, and from Mexico to tropical America. The genus Sabicea is one of the rare genera in Rubiaceae that occurs both in tropical Africa and tropical America.
Dr. Charlotte M. Taylor is a botanist and professor specialising in taxonomy and conservation. She works with the large plant family Rubiaceae, particularly found in the American tropics and in the tribes Palicoureeae and Psychotrieae. This plant family is an economically important group, as it includes plant species used to make coffee and quinine. Taylor also conducts work related to the floristics of Rubiaceae and morphological radiations of the group. Taylor has collected plant samples from many countries across the globe, including Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, and the United States of America, and has named many new species known to science from these regions. As of 2015, Taylor has authored 278 land plant species' names, the seventh-highest number of such names authored by any female scientist.
Herbert Fuller Wernham was a British botanist, who from 1909 to 1929 worked at the British Museum, as an assistant in the botany department. From 1911 to 1921 he published extensively on tropical plants and many genera, retiring in 1921 due to ill health (alcoholism).
