Spermatophyta: Dicotyledonae: Metachlamydeae:

Rubiaceae - Bedstraw family

Description of the family

Trees, shrubs, climbers or (in ours) annual or perennial herbs. Leaves simple, opposite or in whorls, entire.

Stipules present, usually interpetiolar, less often intrapetiolar, entire or (in some herbaceous genera) with lobes or fimbriae.

Flowers usually bisexual, rarely unisexual, actinomorphic, borne in terminal or axillary cymes, sometimes in heads. Calyx gamosepalous, 4-5-lobed. Corolla gamopetalous, often with a long tube, 4-5-lobed. Ovary inferior, of 2-5 or more carpels, usually 2. Fruit a capsule, berry or drupe. [Note that the British species belong to the tribe Rubieae, in which the distinction between leaves and stipules appears to break down and there are whorls of similar leaf-like objects.]

Worldwide: 630 genera and 10,200 species, cosmopolitan, but mainly tropical and warm areas.

Britain: 0 cultivated genera and 0 cultivated taxa.

No image of a cultivated species but there is an image of a native or naturalised species

Links to cultivated genera:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this family

GenusContent

Other sources of information about Rubiaceae:

External websites:

GRIN (Germplasm Resources Information Network) taxonomy for plants report for Rubiaceae
Google: Web - Images - Scholar


Copyright: Mark Hyde, 2008-24

Hyde, M.A. (2024). UK Flora: Cultivated plants: Family page: Rubiaceae.
https://www.ukflora.info/cult/family.php?family_id=234, retrieved 29 March 2024

Site software last modified: 30 September 2018 1:21pm
Terms of use