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 species include Coffea, the source of coffee, Cinchona, the source of the antimalarial alkaloid quinine, some dye plants, and ornamental cultivars.
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.
Sherardia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus contains only one species, viz. Sherardia arvensis or (blue) field madder, which is widespread across most of Europe and northern Africa as well as southwest and central Asia and Macaronesia. It is also reportedly naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Kerguelen, Ethiopia, Sudan, southern Africa, Mexico, Costa Rica, South America, Bermuda, Cuba, Haiti and much of Canada and the United States.
Psychotria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It contains 1,582 species and is therefore one of the largest genera of flowering plants. The genus has a pantropical distribution and members of the genus are small understorey trees in tropical forests. Some species are endangered or facing extinction due to deforestation, especially species of central Africa and the Pacific.
Alberta is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. Most species have been transferred to the genus Razafimandimbisonia, except for the type species Alberta magna. It is native to KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and is commonly known as Natal flame bush.
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.
Sabicea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. They are known commonly as the woodvines. The type species is Sabicea cinerea. There are about 145 species. Most are distributed in tropical Africa and South America.
Vangueria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus is named for Voa vanguer, as V. madagascariensis is known in Malagasy.
Vangueriopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae.
Spermacoce or false buttonweed is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It comprises about 275 species found throughout the tropics and subtropics. Its highest diversity is found in the Americas, followed by Africa, Australia and Asia.
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).
Vanguerieae is a tribe of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae and contains about 640 species in 28 genera. It is one of the most species-rich groups within the family and it is distributed all over the Paleotropics.
Eriosemopsis is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It was described by Walter Robyns in 1928 and no changes have been made since then. The genus contains only one species, viz. Eriosemopsis subanisophylla, which is endemic to KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The species is morphologically similar to the species Pygmaeothamnus zeyheri but differs by having a thick indumentum, raised venation and elliptical leaves.
Vangueria madagascariensis, commonly known by the names Spanish-tamarind, tamarind-of-the-Indies, or voa vanga, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae native to the African continent having edible fruit. It is the type species of the genus Vangueria and was described in 1791 by Johann Friedrich Gmelin.
Keetia gueinzii is an evergreen scandent shrub in the family Rubiaceae. The species epitheton is named after Wilhelm Gueinzius, a German naturalist who collected plants in South Africa. It became the type species of Keetia after the original type species, Keetia transvaalensis, was made a synonym. This species is found down the southern African east coast in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa.
Globulostylis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It comprises 8 species growing in Central Africa.
Cornelis Eliza Bertus Bremekamp was a Dutch botanist.
Breonadia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It was described by Colin Ernest Ridsdale in 1975. The genus contains only one species, viz. Breonadia salicina, which is found in tropical and southern Africa from Mali and Benin east to Ethiopia, south to South Africa, as well as Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Madagascar.
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.
Coffea racemosa, or racemosa coffee, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae. It has naturally low levels of caffeine, less than half of that found in Coffea arabica, and a quarter of that in Robusta coffee. It is endemic to the coastal forest belt between northern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and Zimbabwe, found in an area less than 150 km2 (58 sq mi) in size. It was widely cultivated by the Portuguese during the 1960-1970s in Mozambique, currently there are only two plantations at Ibo Island and in Hluhluwe, which remain.
