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.[1]

Palicourea
Foreground: leaves and inflorescence of unidentified Palicourea species
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Rubiaceae
Subfamily:	Rubioideae
Tribe:	Psychotrieae
Genus:	Palicourea Aubl.
Species
About 200, see text

These plants are very closely related to Psychotria and in particular its subgenus 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. 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.[1] By a Hungarian botanist Attila Borhidi, some of the Psychotria species have been transferred into this genus.[2]

The genus is not well studied. Most species are distylous, although a few on isolated Caribbean islands seem to have lost the trait. Flowers are in racemes, having no scent, and are normally pollinated by hummingbirds. Blue-black berries follow, and are thought to be distributed by birds.[1]

Almost one-tenth of the Palicourea species are considered threatened by the IUCN, even though the conservation status has only been reviewed for those species that occur in Ecuador.[3]

Selected species

• Palicourea anderssoniana
• Palicourea anianguana
• Palicourea asplundii
• Palicourea azurea
• Palicourea calantha
• Palicourea calothyrsus
• Palicourea calycina
• Palicourea canarina
• Palicourea candida
• Palicourea consobrina
• Palicourea corniculata
• Palicourea cornigera
• Palicourea elata (syn. Psychotria elata)
• Palicourea fuchsioides
• Palicourea gentryi
• Palicourea heilbornii
• Palicourea herrerae
• Palicourea holmgrenii
• Palicourea jaramilloi
• Palicourea lasiantha
• Palicourea lasiorrhachis
• Palicourea latifolia
• Palicourea lobbii
• Palicourea macrocalyx
• Palicourea prodiga
• Palicourea sodiroi
• Palicourea stenosepala
• Palicourea subalatoides
• Palicourea tectoneura
• Palicourea tomentosa (syn. Psychotria poeppigiana)
• Palicourea wilesii

References

1. Taylor (2008)
2. Govaerts, R., Ruhsam, M., Andersson, L., Robbrecht, E., Bridson, D., Davis, A., Schanzer, I., Sonké, B. (2019). World Checklist of Rubiaceae. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; https://wcsp.science.kew.org/ Retrieved 25 June 2019
3. IUCN (2008)

• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (2008): [www.iucnredlist.org 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species].
• Taylor, Charlotte M. (2008): Palicourea Aubl. (Rubiaceae: Psychotrieae). Version of 2008-APR-04. Retrieved 2008-DEC-21.