Rubiaceae

The madder family in Belgium:
In Europe, the representatives of this family belong to a few dozens of herbaceous species in just a handful of genera; bedstraw (Galium) is by far the most species rich genus in our region, nut it occurs in the tropics as well and with about 630 species, it is one of the species richest genera in the family. In tropical regions, this family’s diversity becomes clear in all possible regards: in terms of growth forms, in terms of genera and species richness, and also in terms of presence in different habitats and niches. The Rubiaceae are in fact the fourth largest flower plant family in the world, they play an important role in tropical rainforests, from the understorey up to the canopy. On a world scale, they are often referred to as coffee family, because Coffea species produce one of the most traded natural products in the world: coffee beans!
Meise Botanic Garden has a close and long relationship with the Rubiaceae, because many of our past and current scientists worked and still work on the taxonomy and ecology of plants belonging to the coffee family; for instance:
- - Biogeography & phylogeny (kinship studies);
- Contributions to the Flore d’Afrique Centrale and the Flore du Gabon;
- Evolution of seeds – germination and viability – of different species;
- Flower ecology of coffee plants (Coffea) and how wild species may save the world’s coffee production given the current alarming trends by the most common cultivars as a consequence of climate change;
- Flower ontogeny (how flowers develop);
- Symbiosis between bacteria and Pavetta, Psychotria, Sericanthe;
- Taxonomy of African and Malagasy Coffea, Craterispermum, Gardenia, Ixora, Pauridiantha, Pavetta, Psychotria, Sabicea, Spermacoce, Tarenna…
Each year, we welcome visitors from all over the world drawn by the expertise of our scientists and the collections in our herbaria!

The Belgian Herbarium:
Meise Botanic Garden holds the largest herbarium collection of Belgian plant specimens. Each of these herbarium specimens has a label with valuable information such as the plant’s identification, and when, where, and who collected the plant. These specimens can be used in many domains of research, such as conservation, evolution, ecology and systematics. These data help us to better understand the plants of Belgium, their history and that of people who collected them. There are about 200,000 specimens in the Belgian Herbarium of Meise Botanic Garden and we want to document them all! These data will then be made available online at www.botanicalcollections.be.

Keywords (Latin):
Belgium, Rubiaceae, Herbae, Hortus Botanicus Meise, Botanica.