Perennial herbs; stems terete to c. quadrangular, rooting at nodes. Leaves opposite, petiolate; stipules connate to petioles forming a sheath around nodes. Flowers solitary, sessile or shortly pedicellate, terminal or upper-axillary, bisexual; calyx obscurely 4- or 5-lobed, persistent in fruit; corolla rotate or campanulate, 4- or 5-lobed, glabrous, greenish; stamens 4, inserted at base of corolla-tube, anthers exserted, without a terminal appendage; ovary inferior, 2-celled, ovules 1 per cell, style 2-lobed, stigmas filiform, exserted, more or less sessile. Fruit a soft, fleshy drupe with 1 or 2 seeds.
About 11 species, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere; 1 or 2 species in Australia.
Source:
Jeanes, J.A. (1999). Rubiaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 4, Cornaceae to Asteraceae, pp. 616–642. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
