Hillia (plant)

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

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

Type species
Hillia parasitica
Jacquin
Species

24 species, see text

Synonyms

Ravnia Oersted

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 plant.[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.

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. 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
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