PlantaeDB Logo
Login Sign-up

Genus Corynanthe in Family Rubiaceae

In botanical taxonomy, a genus (plural genera) is a rank used to group closely related species within a family. In the hierarchy, genus sits below family and above species.

Genera are defined by shared morphological, anatomical, and genetic characteristics (for example, features of flowers, fruits, seeds, or leaves) that indicate a close evolutionary relationship among the species they contain.

Each genus can include one or more species. Examples include Rosa (roses) and Solanum (nightshades, including tomato and eggplant).

Do you wish to read more about plant taxonomy? Click here!

Genus Description

Suggest a correction!

Corynanthe (Rubiaceae) is a genus of small to medium trees with about twelve species distributed across the Guineo‑Congolian region to East and southern tropical Africa, extending into zambezian woodlands and miombo; it occurs in lowland to submontane forest, riverine forest, and swamp woodland. The type species is Corynanthe pachyceras (Welw.) (IPNI, 2024). The genus is recognized in modern treatments (POWO, 2024; WFO, 2024) and is sometimes alternatively subsumed under Mitragyna (e.g., Mouly et al., 2014; R鳟 fimandimbison et al., 2009).

The trees have opposite leaves with well‑developed interpetiolar or intrapetiolar caducous stipules that may show colleters. The capitate or subglobose inflorescences are terminal or axillary, solitary or arranged in thyrses; individual heads are subtended by involucral bracts, and the flowers are small, white to cream, with a valvate calyx limb and a tubular corolla whose lobes open at anthesis. The ovary is inferior, usually bilocular with a pendulous placenta bearing numerous seeds; the fruit is a capsule that dehisces septicidally into two valves, each endocarp forming a papery to crustaceous pyrene that releases the small, winged seeds for wind dispersal.

Centers of diversity lie in Central Africa, with several narrow endemics in Cameroon and the Congo Basin; regional species extend into Kenya, Tanzania, and Angola. Corynanthe occupies riverine and seasonally flooded habitats across an elevation range from near sea level to c. 1,600 m. The base chromosome number is x=11, based on Cytogenic work across Rubiaceae (e.g., Stoffelen et al., 1996).

Recent molecular phylogenies place Corynanthe within the Cinchonoideae–Mitragyninae clade; however, comparative analyses suggest its morphological distinctiveness is limited, leading some authors to merge it into Mitragyna (R鳟 fimandimbison et al., 2009; Mouly et al., 2014). Current consensus recognizes Corynanthe at Kew and many regional treatments (POWO, 2024; WFO, 2024) but acknowledges ongoing taxonomic revision.

Several species are known locally for timber, with dense wood used in construction and furniture, and some taxa are occasionally cultivated for shade or ornamental flowering heads. None are considered major weeds. Conservation status varies, with some narrowly endemic taxa threatened by habitat loss; further field surveys and integrative taxonomic work are needed to resolve species limits and conservation priorities.

Pick a Species to see its components: