Vanguerieae
| Vanguerieae | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Canthium coromandelicum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Rubiaceae |
| Subfamily: | Ixoroideae |
| Tribe: |
Vanguerieae A.Rich. ex Dumort. |
| Type genus | |
|
Vangueria Juss. |
|
Vanguerieae is a tribe of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae family and contains about 640 species in 27 genera. It is one of the most species-rich groups within the family and it is distributed all over the Paleotropics.
Several different life forms are present in the tribe: most species are shrubs, but geofructices (plants with woody rhizomes) (e.g. Fadogia homblei, Pygmaeothamnus zeyheri), small trees (e.g. Vangueria infausta), and climbers (e.g. Keetia gueinzii) also occur. As all Rubiaceae species, the leaves are opposite, simple and entire, and they have interpetiolar stipules. The phyllotaxis is decussate, sometimes conspicuously so (e.g. Canthium inerme), and rarely whorled (e.g. Fadogia). Some species have spines (e.g. Canthium). Secondary pollen presentation is characteristic for the tribe and the species develop a conspicuous “stylar head”-complex, which is a structural unit consisting of a pollen presenting organ combined with stigmatic surfaces.
The species of this tribe are found in the Paleotropics. Most genera and over 70% of the species occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Madagascar and the islands in the Western Indian Ocean. The remainder of the species is mostly found in Southeast Asia. A few species are restricted to islands in the Pacific Ocean, especially New Caledonia, and another fraction of the species occurs in the Eastern states of Australia, especially in coastal Queensland. The countries with the largest diversity with over a hundred species each are Tanzania, Madagascar and D.R.Congo.
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Wikipedia