The greatest number of species occurs in Colombia, Venezuela and New Guinea. When adjusted for area, Venezuela is the most diverse, followed by Colombia and Cuba. A large number of poorly studied species exist as understorey shrubs in Madagascar and are threatened with habitat destruction.
The genera Myrmecodia and Hydnophytum are epiphytes that have mutualistic relationships with ants.
Psychotria, with 1834 species, is the largest genus within the family, and the third-largest genus of angiosperm, behind the legume Astragalus and the orchid Bulbophyllum. Twenty-nine other genera also have more than 100 species. On the other hand, 211 genera are monotypic; together they account for more than a third of all genera in the Rubiaceae, but fewer than 1% of all species.
The family takes its name from the Madder genus Rubia. The well-known genus Rubus (blackberries and raspberries) is unrelated and is part of the Rosaceae family.
With many large and poorly defined genera, the family was not as extensively researched as others.
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The oldest confirmed fossils, which are of fruit that bear strong resemblance to the genus Emmenopterys were found in Washington State and are 48–49 million years old. A fossil infructescence and fruit found in 44-million-year-old strata in Oregon were assigned to Emmenopterys dilcheri, an extinct species. The next oldest fossils after these date to the Late Eocene and include Canthium from Australia, Faramea from Panama, Guettarda from New Caledonia, and Paleorubiaceophyllum, an extinct genus, from the southeastern United States.
Fossil Rubiaceae are known from three regions in the Eocene (North America north of Mexico, Mexico-Central America-Caribbean, and Southeast Pacific-Asia). In the Oligocene they are found in these three regions and Africa. In the Miocene they are found in these four regions, South America, and Europe.
The bark of trees in the genus Cinchona is the source of a variety of alkaloids, the most familiar of which is quinine, one of the first agents effective in treating malaria. Woodruff (Galium odoratum) is a small herbaceous perennial that contains coumarin—a natural precursor of warfarin—and the South American plant Psychotria ipecacuanha is the source of the emetic ipecac. Psychotria viridis is frequently used as a source of dimethyltryptamine in the preparation of ayahuasca, a psychoactive decoction.
Originally from China, the common gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides) is a widely grown garden plant and flower in frost-free climates worldwide. Several other species from the genus are also seen in horticulture. The genus Ixora also contains plants seen cultivated in warmer climate gardens. The New Zealand native Coprosma repens is a commonly used plant for hedges. The south African Rothmannia globosa is seen as a specimen tree in horticulture.
Rose madder, the crushed root of Rubia tinctorum, yields a red dye, and the tropical Morinda citrifolia yields a yellow dye.
Category:Asterid families Category:Rubiaceae
az:Boyaqotukimilər bg:Брошови ca:Rubiàcia da:Krap-familien de:Rötegewächse et:Madaralised es:Rubiaceae eo:Rubiacoj eu:Rubiaceae fa:روناسیان fr:Rubiaceae ko:꼭두서니과 hsb:Čerwjenkowe rostliny id:Rubiaceae it:Rubiaceae he:פואתיים jv:Rubiaceae kk:Риян тұқымдасы kv:Марена котыр la:Rubiaceae lt:Raudiniai hu:Buzérfélék mk:Rubiaceae ms:Rubiaceae nl:Sterbladigenfamilie ja:アカネ科 no:Maurefamilien koi:Марена котыр pl:Marzanowate pt:Rubiaceae ro:Rubiaceae qu:Kina yura rikch'aq ayllu ru:Мареновые sq:Rubiaceae simple:Rubiaceae fi:Matarakasvit sv:Måreväxter te:రూబియేసి tr:Kökboyasıgiller uk:Маренові vi:Họ Thiến thảo zh:茜草科This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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