Psydrax


Psydrax is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It consists of trees, shrubs, and a few lianas in the paleotropics.

Taxonomy

The genus was named by Joseph Gaertner in 1788 in his book, De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum. Psydrax is a Greek word meaning a blister or bump. Gaertner may have chosen this name to refer to the warty fruit or the pimply seeds of some species. The name was hardly ever used after Gaertner proposed it because most authors placed these species in Canthium. Psydrax was reinstated in 1985 and 37 African species were transferred to it from Canthium. The monospecific genus Mesoptera was also sunk into Psydrax. Psydrax was shown to be monophyletic in a molecular phylogenetic study. It is closely related to Afrocanthium, Cyclophyllum and Keetia, genera that have been segregated from Canthium.

Species