Rubiaceae - Coffee family

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

Stipules present, usually interpetiolar, less often intrapetiolar, entire or (in some herbaceous genera) with lobes or fimbriae. [Note that in the species of tribe Rubieae (the genera Galium, Rubia and Sherardia in Zimbabwe) the distinction between leaves and stipules breaks down and there are whorls of similar leaf-like objects.]

Flowers usually bisexual, rarely unisexual (e.g. in some species of Anthospermum, Catunaregam and Canthium), actinomorphic. Calyx gamosepalous, (3-)4-5(-8)-lobed. Corolla gamopetalous, often with a long tube, (3-)4-5(-11)-lobed. Ovary inferior, of 2-5 or more carpels, usually 2. Fruit a capsule, berry or drupe.

A usually readily recognisable family, even in the vegetative state, from the combination of opposite (or whorled) entire leaves and interpetiolar stipules.

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