Rudgea
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Authority
Maguire, Bassett. 1967. The botany of the Guayana Highland--Part VII. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 17: 1-439.
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Family
Rubiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Rudgea lanccaefolia Salisbury.
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Discussion
Strempelia A. Richard, Mom. Soc. Hist, Nat, Paris 5: I8O, t. 18, f. 2. 1834.
The following treatment includes those species occurring in Venezuela, the Gua\ ana Highland, the Guianas, together with associated species. For the present, Chytropsia Bremekamp is being retained as a separate genus distinct from C'oussarea, distinguished from Coussarcu in the persistent, bilobate stipules and in the absence of a longitudinal furrow down the ventral side of the pyrene of the drupe. The present key, however, includes those species placed by Bremekamp in Chytropsia in order to show the relation existing among the various taxa of Rudgea and Chytropsia.
Until the genus Rudgea has been monographed as a whole, it is not possible to evaluate the importance of intergradation of the characters presumed to separate Strempelia from Rudgea. Bremekamp relied on the dorsally awned, truncate stipule combined with umbellately arranged primary axes of the dichasially branched inflorescence to differentiate Strempelia from Rudgea, the latter characterized by the triangular, bidentate, apically awned stipule with two groups of larger awns at the base, combined with a paniculate type of inflorescence. However, one finds, in an attempt to group the known species into these categories, a number of taxa which either combine the characters supposed to differentiate the two genera or else vaguely intergrade into one another. Until there is new evidence to the contrary, it seems best to treat Strempelia synonymous with Rudgea.