Rubiales

Article By:

Cronquist, Arthur New York Botanical Garden, New York, New York.

Barkley, Theodore M. Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas.

Last reviewed:August 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.595300

An order, now discontinued, of flowering plants, division Magnoliophyta (Angiospermae), in the subclass Asteridae of the class Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons). The order Rubiales has been abandoned in modern plant classification schemes, and its families have been placed in the order Gentianales. The order, as it was formerly constituted, consisted of the large family Rubiaceae, with about 11,000 species, and the family Theligoniaceae, with only 3 species. Former members of the order Rubiales are marked by their inferior ovary; regular or nearly regular corolla, with the petals grown together by their margins; stamens (equal in number to the petals) that are attached to the corolla tube and that alternate with the lobes; and opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules or whorled leaves without stipules. The most familiar species of temperate regions are herbs with whorled leaves, such as madder (Rubia tinctorum, the traditional source of red dye), but opposite-leaved tropical shrubs [for example, Coffea (the source of coffee)] are more typical of this former group. See also: Coffee; Gentianales; Magnoliophyta; Magnoliopsida; Plant kingdom

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