Hillia

Hillia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Subfamily: Cinchonoideae
Genus: Hillia
Jacquin
Type species
Hillia parasitica
Jacquin
Species

24 species, see text
Synonyms

Ravnia Oersted

Hillia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It has 24 species.[1] All are indigenous to tropical America.[2]

Most of the species are slightly succulent epiphytes or small trees. A few are subshrubs or lianas. Hillia rivalis is a rheophyte. The tissues of all the species contain raphides. The capsules have a beak-like appendage.[3]

Hillia triflora is cultivated as an ornamental.[4]

Hillia was named by Nicolaus Jacquin in 1760.[5][6] It was named for the English botanist John Hill (1716-1775).[7] Jacquin named only one species, Hillia parasitica. It has been suggested that the specific epithet as well as the generic name might well be a reference to John Hill.[3]

Some authors have placed five of the species in a separate genus, Ravnia. A cladistic analysis of morphological characters found Ravnia to be embedded within Hillia.[3] This hypothesis has not been tested with molecular data.

The genera Hillia, Balmea, and Cosmibuena form a monophyletic group. Some authors have designated this group as the tribe Hillieae, but it might be embedded within another tribe, Hamelieae.[8]

Species

The following species list may be incomplete or contain synonyms.

  • Hillia rivalis C.M. Taylor
  • Hillia triflora ( Oersted) C.M. Taylor

References

  1. ^ Hillia At: World Checklist of Rubiaceae At: Kew Gardens Website. (see External links below).
  2. ^ David J. Mabberley. 2008. Mabberley's Plant-Book third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. ISBN 978-0-521-82071-4
  3. ^ a b c Charlotte M. Taylor. 1994. "Revision of Hillia (Rubiaceae)". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 81(4):571-609.
  4. ^ Anthony J. Huxley, Mark Griffiths, and Margot Levy (editors). 1992. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. The Macmillan Press Limited, London; The Stockton Press, New York. ISBN 978-0-333-47494-5 (set)
  5. ^ Hillia in International Plant Names Index. (see External links below).
  6. ^ Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin. 1760. Enumeratio systematica plantarum, quas in insulis Caribaeis vicinaque Americes continente detexit nouas, aut iam cognitas emandauit pages 3 and 18. (see External links below).
  7. ^ Umberto Quattrocchi. 2000. CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names volume II. CRC Press: Boca Raton; New York; Washington,DC;, USA. London, UK. ISBN 978-0-8493-2676-9 (vol. II). (see External links below).
  8. ^ Ulrika Manns and Birgitta Bremer. 2010. "Towards a better understanding of intertribal relationships and stable tribal delimitations within Cinchonoideae s.s. (Rubiaceae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 56(1):21-39. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.04.002

External links