Aiphanes is a genus of spiny palms which is native to tropical regions of South and Central America and the Caribbean. There are about 26 species in the genus, ranging in size from understorey shrubs with subterranean stems to subcanopy trees as tall as 20 metres (66 ft). Most have pinnately compound leaves ; one species has entire leaves. Stems, leaves and sometimes even the fruit are covered with spines. Plants flower repeatedly over the course of their lifespan and have separate male and female flowers, although these are borne together on the same inflorescence. Although records of pollinators are limited, most species appear to be pollinated by insects. The fruit are eaten by several birds and mammals, including at least two species of amazon parrots.
Ramosmania rodriguesi, commonly known as café marron, is a tree native to the Mauritian island of Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean. The plant has an average size of about 5 to 6 feet and features white five-petal star-shaped flowers. Its French common name café marron translates to "brown coffee."
Sonchus brassicifolius, synonym Dendroseris litoralis, is a species of flowering plant in the daisy and sunflower family Asteraceae. It is a small evergreen tree species known as the cabbage tree. It is endemic to the Juan Fernández Islands, which lie in the southeast Pacific, off the west coast of Chile. It is native only to the tiny, volcanic Robinson Crusoe Island, home of the famed Juania australis and many other endemic plants. The species is threatened by habitat loss and has been brought back from the brink of extinction. It had been reduced to only a few individuals by feral goats on the island, and is still considered critically endangered.
Glionnetia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus contains only one species, viz. Glionnetia sericea, which is endemic to Mahé and Silhouette Island in the Seychelles. The species thrives mainly on high ridges in the mountains and it does not seem to grow well at lower altitudes. Glionnetia sericea is a small flower with paniculate terminal inflorescences and it has capsules that are dispersed by wind.
Nargedia is a monotypic genus of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It has only one species, Nargedia macrocarpa, endemic to Sri Lanka.
Palicourea is a plant genus in the family Rubiaceae. It contains about 200 species, which range from shrubs to small trees, and is distributed throughout the New World tropics.
Randia, commonly known as indigoberry, is a mostly Neotropical genus of shrubs or small trees in the Rubiaceae. As of February 2022 Plants of the World Online lists a total of 112 accepted species in the genus. Several Australian species have been reassigned to the genus Atractocarpus. These include the garden plants Atractocarpus chartaceus and A. fitzalanii.
Tahina spectabilis, the tahina palm, also called blessed palm or dimaka is a species of gigantic palm that is found only in the Analalava District of northwestern Madagascar where its range is only twelve acres, one of the most extreme examples of endemism known. It can grow 18 m (59 ft) tall and has palmate leaves over 5 m (16 ft) across. The trunk is up to 20 in (51 cm) thick, and sculpted with conspicuous leaf scars. An individual tree was discovered when in flower in 2007; it was first described the following year as a result of photographs being sent to Kew Gardens in the United Kingdom for identification. The palm is thought to live for up to fifty years before producing an enormous inflorescence up to 19.5 ft (5.9 m) in height and width, surpassed in size only by Corypha spp. and by Metroxylon salomonense and, being monocarpic, subsequently dying. The inflorescence, a panicle, consists of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of three-flowered clusters which bloom in three consecutive, synchronized "cohorts" or flushes of bloom. The nearest equivalent pattern of flowering is in the flowering vine Bougainvillea where the three flowers bloom sequentially, but not synchronized. Fewer than one hundred adult individuals of the species are thought to exist and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated it as "critically endangered".
Burchellia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus contains only one species, viz. Burchellia bubalina, which is endemic to southern Africa: the Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Provinces in South Africa, and Eswatini. It is commonly known as wild pomegranate (English) or wildegranaat (Afrikaans).
Karpatiosorbus admonitor, previously classified as Sorbus admonitor and also called the no parking whitebeam, is a species of whitebeam tree found in Devon, United Kingdom. It is known only from the Watersmeet Valley at Lynton, with two stray plants growing on the coast above Sillery Sands, Countisbury.
Plumeria alba is a species of flowering plant in the genus Plumeria native to Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. It has been planted in tropical regions worldwide.
Atractocarpus chartaceus, commonly known as the narrow-leaved gardenia, is a species of evergreen flowering plant in the madder and coffee family Rubiaceae. It is mostly found in subtropical rainforest of eastern Australia, and it is cultivated for its fragrant flowers and colourful fruit.
Nymphaea thermarum is the world's smallest water lily yet described. The pads (leaves) of N. thermarum can measure only 1 cm (0.39 in) across, less than 10% the width of the next smallest species in the genus Nymphaea. By comparison, the largest water lily has pads that can reach 3 m (9.8 ft). All wild plants were lost due to destruction of its native habitat, but it was saved from extinction when it was grown from seed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 2009. In January 2014, a surviving water lily was stolen from the Royal Botanic Gardens.
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.
Abutilon pitcairnense, the yellow fatu or yellow fautu, is a critically endangered perennial plant that is native to Pitcairn Island. It was once considered extinct, until a single plant was discovered on the island in 2003. At that time, cuttings and seed were used to propagate several plants at a nursery on the island and botanical gardens in Ireland and England. The last wild surviving plant died in a landslide in 2005, making the plant extinct in the wild.
Tulipa sprengeri, or Sprenger's tulip, is a wild tulip from the Pontic coast of Turkey. It is quite rare and possibly extinct in the wild, but widely cultivated as an ornamental.
Rubovietnamia is a genus of plants in the family Rubiaceae, native to Vietnam and southern China.
Octotropideae is a tribe of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae and contains about 103 species in 18 genera. Its representatives are found in the paleotropics. The genera previously placed in the tribe Hypobathreae are now placed in Octotropideae.
Ceriscoides turgida, the mountain gardenia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae, native to the Indian Subcontinent and mainland Southeast Asia. A tree reaching 8 m (26 ft), its unripe fruit can be boiled and eaten as a famine food, but its ripe fruit are poisonous.
Victoria boliviana, or the Bolivian waterlily is a new species of water lily within the genus Victoria in the family Nymphaeaceae. It is the newest described species of the genus and its largest member in size and was officially identified in 2022. In January 2023, the species was awarded three Guinness World Record titles for world's largest waterlily species, world's largest waterlily leaf and world's largest undivided leaf, with the latter two specifically recognizing a specimen grown in 2012 at La Rinconada Gardens in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
