''Cuviera'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules ...

native to tropical Africa. It was originally described by

Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candol ...

in 1807 and is named after the French naturalist

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier ...

Description

The species form a homogeneous group that is well characterized by their striped petals, many-flowered inflorescences and usually ant holes in the twigs. The bracts are recaulescent, which means that the first node of the inflorescence is bare and the lowest bracts are inserted at the second node.

Distribution and habitat

The genus is found in the Guineo-Congolian rainforest zone. The centre of diversity is the

Lower Guinean forests The Lower Guinean forests is region of coastal tropical moist broadleaf forest in West Africa, extending along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Guinea from eastern Benin through Nigeria and Cameroon. The Dahomey Gap, a region of savanna and dry for ...

; two species occur in the

Upper Guinean forests The Upper Guinean forests is a tropical seasonal forest region of West Africa. The Upper Guinean forests extend from Guinea and Sierra Leone in the west through Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana to Togo in the east, and a few hundred kilometers inl ...

, and only '' C. angolensis'' extends into the

Congolian forests The Congolian rainforests are a broad belt of lowland tropical moist broadleaf forests which extend across the basin of the Congo River and its tributaries in Central Africa. They are the only major rainforests which absorb more carbon than they ...

. Most species are relatively light demanding, favouring secondary or riverine forest, but some are found in the understory as well. They often grow in clusters.

Taxonomy

At one time, the genus ''

Globulostylis ''Globulostylis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Family (biology), family Rubiaceae. It comprises 8 species growing in Central Africa. Description The main characters of ''Globulostylis'' are the few-flowered inflorescences with a pair of ...

'' was considered as a subgenus of ''Cuviera'', but it has been re-established as an accepted genus.

Species

Accepted species according to the latest revision. * '' Cuviera acutiflora''

DC. Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

- from Liberia to Equatorial Guinea * '' Cuviera angolensis''

Welw. Friedrich Martin Josef Welwitsch (25 February 1806 – 20 October 1872) was an Austrian explorer and botanist who in Angola was the first European to describe the plant ''Welwitschia mirabilis''. His report received wide attention among the ...

K.Schum. Karl Moritz Schumann (17 June 1851 – 22 March 1904) was a German botanist. Schumann was born in Görlitz. He was curator of the Botanisches Museum in Berlin-Dahlem from 1880 until 1894. He also served as the first chairman of the ''Deut ...

- Zaïre (Congo-Kinshasa or Democratic Republic of Congo), Cabinda, Angola * '' Cuviera le-testui'' Pellegr. - Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Zaïre (Congo-Kinshasa or Democratic Republic of Congo) * '' Cuviera longiflora'' Hiern - Nigeria, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon,

Bioko Bioko (; historically Fernando Po; bvb, Ëtulá Ëria) is an island off the west coast of Africa and the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea. Its population was 335,048 at the 2015 census and it covers an area of . The island is located of ...

* '' Cuviera macroura''

- Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cameroon * '' Cuviera physinodes''

- Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon * '' Cuviera pierrei'' N.Hallé - Equatorial Guinea, Gabon * '' Cuviera subuliflora''

Benth. George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

- Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Zaïre (Congo-Kinshasa or Democratic Republic of Congo), Congo-Brazzaville, Nigeria, Gulf of Guinea Islands * '' Cuviera trilocularis'' Hiern - Nigeria, Cameroon * '' Cuviera truncata''

Hutch. John Hutchinson, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (7 April 1884 Blindburn, Northumberland – 2 September 1972 London) was an English botanist, taxonomist and author.''A Botanist in Southern Afric ...

& Dalziel - Nigeria, Cameroon ;formerly included The following species are excluded from ''Cuviera'' based on morphological and molecular data, some of which have not yet been formally transferred to other genera. * ''Cuviera australis''

= ''

Vangueria lasiantha ''Vangueria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus is named for , as '' V. madagascariensis'' is known in Malagasy. Distribution The genus contains over 50 species distributed in Africa south of the Sahara with one ...

'' (

Sond. Otto Wilhelm Sonder (18 June 1812, Bad Oldesloe – 21 November 1881) was a German botanist and pharmacist. Life A native of Holstein, Sonder studied at Kiel University, where he sat pharmaceutical examinations in 1835, before becoming the prop ...

)

- Mozambique, South Africa * ''Cuviera bolo'' Aubrèv. & Pellegr. = '' Robynsia glabrata''

- Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria * '' Cuviera calycosa'' Wernham - Nigeria, Cameroon, Zaïre (Congo-Kinshasa or Democratic Republic of Congo), Congo-Brazzaville * '' Cuviera migeodii'' Verdc. - Tanzania * '' Cuviera nigrescens'' (Elliott ex Oliv.) Wernham - from Liberia to Zaïre (Congo-Kinshasa or Democratic Republic of Congo) * '' Cuviera schliebenii'' Verdc. - Tanzania, Mozambique * '' Cuviera semseii'' Verdc. - Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique * '' Cuviera tomentosa'' Verdc. - Tanzania, Mozambique

References

External links

''Cuviera'' in the World Checklist of Rubiaceae
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5197050 Rubiaceae genera Vanguerieae Flora of Africa