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.
Gentianales is an order of flowering plants, 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.
Cinchona is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are reportedly naturalized in Central America, Jamaica, French Polynesia, Sulawesi, Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, and São Tomé and Príncipe off the coast of tropical Africa, and others have been cultivated in India and Java, where they have formed hybrids.
Exostema is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It consists of trees and shrubs, endemic to the neotropics, with most of the species occurring in the West Indies.
Gaertnera is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. There are at least 85 species distributed across the Old World tropics from Africa to Asia.
Remijia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. Within the family, it is a member of the subfamily Cinchonoideae and the tribe Cinchoneae.
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.
Kadua is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It comprises 29 species, all restricted to Polynesia. Twenty-two of these are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Some of the species are common at high elevation. Others are single-island endemics or very rare, and a few are probably extinct. Kadua affinis is widely distributed in Hawaii and is polymorphic. The type species for the genus is Kadua acuminata.
The Cinchoneae are a tribe of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing about 125 species in 9 genera. Representatives are found from Costa Rica to southern tropical America. Species within Cinchoneae are characterized as small trees or shrubs with imbricate or valvate corolla aestivation and often dry capsular fruits. Many species contain alkaloids.
Cosmibuena is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus is native to Chiapas, Central America, and South America as far south as Brazil.
Danais is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. Most species are native to Madagascar; at least three others are distributed in Tanzania, Comoros, and the Mascarene Islands.
Coutarea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus is native to southern Mexico, Central America, South America and the West Indies.
Ciliosemina is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. There are two recognized species distributed in South America from the eastern Andes to the Amazon basin.
Phylohydrax is a genus of plants in the family Rubiaceae. Its species are native to Madagascar, Tanzania and South Africa.
Chalepophyllum is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The single species, Chalepophyllum guyanense, occurs in Guyana and southern Venezuela.
Coccochondra is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. There are four species native to the Guayana Highlands of northern South America.
Cruckshanksia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus is found in Argentina and Chile.
Didymochlamys is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus is found from Nicaragua to Guyana and Ecuador.
Dioicodendron is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus contains only one species, viz. Dioicodendron dioicum, which is found from western South America to northwestern Venezuela.
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.
