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Coussareeae Hook. f. Search in IPNISearch in NYBG Virtual HerbariumAfrican Plants, Senckenberg Photo GallerySearch in Living Collections Decrease font Increase font Restore font
 

Published In: Genera Plantarum 2: 9. 1873. (7-9 Apr 1873) (Gen. Pl.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 3/26/2021)
Acceptance : Accepted
Note : Subfam. Rubioideae
Project Data     (Last Modified On 10/8/2019)
Notes:

The Tribe Coussareeae, as circumscribed by Bremer & Eriksson (2009), Bremer & Manen (2000), and Löfstrand et al. (2019) belongs to Subfamily Rubioideae and includes 8-10 American genera with about 300-330 species. These plants range from shrubs and trees to perennial and in a few cases annual herbs. Most are tropical but a few genera grow in temperate southern South America (Cruckshanksia, Oreopolus); several genera have geophylic species (Declieuxia, Oreopolus) and one species of Cruckshanksia is a desert annual. Raphides are present. The stipules vary from interpetiolar and entire to variously lobed, to united around the stem or calyptrate. The inflorescences are cymose, and variously axillary and terminal. The flowers are hermaphroditic or in some species dioecious (e.g., Coussarea). Most of the species are distylous. Species of some genera have petaloid calycophylls (Hindsia, Cruckshanksia, Oreopolus). The corolla lobes are valvate in bud. The fruit vary widely, from dry and capsular with numerous seeds (e.g., Cruckshanksia, Heterophyllaea, Hindsia) to fleshy with numerous seeds (Coccocypselum), to dry and drupaceous (Declieuxia), or fleshy with a single locule and seed (e.g., Coussarea, Faramea). Overall as shown by Bremer & Manen (2000) this tribe is heterogeneous and thus difficult to characterize morphologically.

The Coussareeae was long circumscribed to include Coussarea, Faramea, and the African genus Schizocolea, all with fleshy fruit wih a single seed. Using molecular data Bremer & Manen (2000) found Schizocolea to be unrelated to these other two genera, and found the Tribe Coussareeae to include a set of American genera with a wide variety of ovary characters and fruit form. This new, well supported view of this tribe along with several other studies by Bremer and collaborators showed that the characters that supported previous classifications in Rubiaceae were often homoplasious, which altered much of the basic thinking about Rubiaceae systematics, biogeography, morphological variation, and adaptation. Razafimandimbison et al. (2008) and Rydin et al. (2008) found Schizocolea still in the Rubioideae, and sister to the "Psychotrieae alliance", which comprises at least 8 related tribes, rather than closely related to Coussareeae.

Lôfstrand et al. (2019) presented a molecular analysis to delimit Coussareeae, and developed a more detailed sampling than previously with both more genera and species. They found Standleya and Bradea, from eastern Brazil, were also included in this group. Their analysis had three well supported clades, each with some morphological and biogeographic consistency, and included all of these in the single tribe Coussareeae. Their basalmost clade is composed of the three cool-temperature, southern Andean genera, Heterophyllaea, Oreopolus, and Cruckshanksia, and is sister to rest of the tribe. One of these other clades is composed of tropical genera with centers of diversity in Brazil, Bradea, Coccocypselum, Declieuxia, Hindsia, and Standleya; the other clade includes the tropical genera Coussarea and Faramea. The lack of a clear morphological characterization of this group is detailed by Lôfstrand et al., although their morphological data (2019: Table 1) is incomplete as to the range of morphology found in some genera for some characters, and is inscrutable in some places. In particular, the meaning of their description of the calyx of some genera as "turbinate" is unclear, and the references they cite as the source for this information do not use this or any similar terms.

One fossil is reported for this tribe, comprising pollen of Faramea from the Upper Eocene (mean age 37 mya) of Panama. However Bremer & Eriksson's analysis calculated the divergence time of this Tribe Coussareeae as older, ca. 65.4 mya, putting it in the Paleocene. Although the circumscription of this tribe is generally clear, the relationships among the genera are not yet fully clarified and most of the genera have never been comprehensively reviewed.

Author: C.M. Taylor
The content of this web page was last revised on 8 October 2019.
Taylor web page: http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/curators/taylor.shtml

Distribution: Lowland to montane wet tropical forest, also seasonal tropical forest, cerrado, and savannas, and in temperate vegetation in the Atacama desert and the southern Andes, Mexico and the Antilles widely through South America to Tierra del Fuego.
References:
Taxa Included Here: Genera of Coussareeae, sensu Löfstrand (2019):
Bradea
Coccocypselum
Coussarea Aubl.
Cruckshanksia Hook. & Arn.
Declieuxia Kunth
Faramea Aubl.
Heterophyllaea Hook.f.
Hindsia
Oreopolus Schltdl.
Standleya

 
 
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