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A large family of dicotyledonous plants containing about 7000 species in some 500 genera. It is mainly tropical in distribution, all the tropical species being woody. Temperate representatives are always herbaceous and include such species as Galium saxatile (heath bedstraw) and Asperula arvensis (blue woodruff). The temperate species characteristically have square stems and leaves borne in whorls. All members, both temperate and tropical, bear stipules and the flowers are usually actinomorphic and hermaphrodite. The ovary is normally inferior and in most members contains two carpels. Commercially important products of the Rubiaceae include coffee, from Coffea arabica and C. canephora, and quinine, from species of Cinchona. Gardenia species are much planted as ornamentals.
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