Madder family
Description
A very large family of shrubs, trees and a few herbs, with a cosmopolitan distribution, but centred in the tropics (Rubiaceae 1).
The leaves are simple, opposite or in whorls, entire and usually with stipules. Flowers in variable inflorescences, regular, with 4 or 5 free sepals and 4 or 5 petals fused into a tubular corolla, often with hairs inside. There are 4 or 5 stamens, borne on the petals, and an inferior ovary. The fruit is a capsule, berry or drupe.
There are over 500 genera.
Use
The family is of great economic importance because of the genus Coffea that provides coffee. Formerly, the family was also important as a source of quinine.
Described species
Cinchona sp., quinine
Coffea arabica, arabica coffee
Coffea canephora, robusta coffee, see Coffea arabica
Coffea liberica, liberica coffee, see Coffea arabica