''Palicourea'' is a plant genus in the family Rubiaceae. It contains about 200 species, which range from

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s to small trees, and is distributed throughout the New World tropics.Taylor (2008) These plants are closely related to '' Psychotria'' and in particular its

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

''Heteropsychotria''. Indeed, it seems to be nothing else but a distinctively-flowered offshoot of ''Heteropsychotria''; arguably, it would thus need to be merged into ''Psychotria'' to make that genus

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

. On the other hand, ''Psychotria'' is extremely diverse already, so it is probably more practical to move the more distantly related species out of this genus and merge ''Heteropsychotria'' with ''Palicourea''. By a Hungarian botanist

Attila Borhidi Borhidi Attila (born 28 June 1932), is a Széchenyi Prize The Széchenyi Prize ( hu, Széchenyi-díj), named after István Széchenyi, is a prize given in Hungary by the state, replacing the former State Prize in 1990 in recognition of those who ...

, some of the ''Psychotria'' species have been transferred into this genus. The genus is not well studied. Most species are distylous, although a few on isolated

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

islands seem to have lost the trait. Flowers are in racemes, having no scent, and are normally pollinated by

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

s. Blue-black berries follow, and are thought to be distributed by birds. Almost one-tenth of the ''Palicourea'' species are considered threatened by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

, even though the conservation status has only been reviewed for those species that occur in Ecuador.IUCN (2008)

Selected species

* '' Palicourea anderssoniana'' * '' Palicourea anianguana'' * '' Palicourea asplundii'' * '' Palicourea azurea'' * '' Palicourea calantha'' * '' Palicourea calothyrsus'' * '' Palicourea calycina'' * '' Palicourea canarina'' * ''

Palicourea candida ''Palicourea candida'' is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is Endemism, endemic to Ecuador. References

Palicourea, candida Endemic flora of Ecuador Vulnerable plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Rubiaceae-stub ...

'' * ''

Palicourea consobrina ''Palicourea consobrina'' is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to Peru. References Flora of Peru consobrina Vulnerable plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Rubiaceae-stub ...

'' * ''

Palicourea corniculata ''Palicourea corniculata'' is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, ...

'' * '' Palicourea cornigera'' * '' Palicourea elata'' (syn. ''

Psychotria elata ''Palicourea elata'', formerly ''Psychotria elata'', commonly known as girlfriend kiss and labios de puta, is a tropical plant that ranges from Central to South American rain forests in countries such as Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, and ...

'') * '' Palicourea fuchsioides'' * ''

Palicourea gentryi ''Palicourea gentryi'' is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, whic ...

'' * '' Palicourea heilbornii'' * ''

Palicourea herrerae ''Palicourea herrerae'' is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of th ...

'' * '' Palicourea holmgrenii'' * ''

Palicourea jaramilloi ''Palicourea jaramilloi'' is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador. References Flora of Ecuador jaramilloi Vulnerable plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Rubiaceae-stub ...

'' * '' Palicourea lasiantha'' * ''

Palicourea lasiorrhachis ''Palicourea'' is a plant genus in the family Rubiaceae. It contains about 200 species, which range from shrubs to small trees, and is distributed throughout the New World tropics.Taylor (2008) These plants are closely related to '' Psych ...

'' * '' Palicourea latifolia'' * ''

Palicourea lobbii ''Palicourea lobbii'' is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, whic ...

'' * ''

Palicourea macrocalyx ''Palicourea'' is a plant genus in the family Rubiaceae. It contains about 200 species, which range from shrubs to small trees, and is distributed throughout the New World tropics.Taylor (2008) These plants are closely related to '' Psych ...

'' * ''

Palicourea padifolia ''Palicourea padifolia'' is a species from the genus Palicourea ''Palicourea'' is a plant genus in the family Rubiaceae. It contains about 200 species, which range from shrubs to small trees, and is distributed throughout the New World tropics ...

'' * '' Palicourea prodiga'' * '' Palicourea sodiroi'' * '' Palicourea stenosepala'' * '' Palicourea subalatoides'' * ''

Palicourea tectoneura ''Palicourea tectoneura'' is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador. References Flora of Ecuador tectoneura Vulnerable plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Rubiaceae-stub ...

'' * '' Palicourea tomentosa'' (syn. ''

Psychotria poeppigiana __NOTOC__ ''Psychotria poeppigiana'' is a plant species in the family Rubiaceae; a common name is sore-mouth bush,USDA (2006) though it is not very often used. This species is currently accepted as ''Palicourea tomentosa'' based on a journal articl ...

'') * ''

Palicourea wilesii ''Palicourea wilesii'' is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to Jamaica. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat ...

Selected species

References

Further reading