Rubia 茜草屬
型態特徵
Perennial climbing or erect diffused herbs, sometimes shrubby at the base, often scabrid-hispid, prickly or sometimes glabrous; branches 4-angled or subterete. Leaves 4–12 in a whorl, rarely opposite and stipulate. Flowers in axillary and terminal cymes; pedicels jointed with the ovary; calyx tube ovoid or globose, the limb 0; corolla rotate or shortly bell- or funnelform, 4–5-lobed, valvate in bud; stamens 4–5, inserted on corolla tube, filaments short, anthers globose or oblong; style 2 or 2-fid, stigma capitate, ovary 2-celled; ovules 1 in each cell, erect, attached to septum. Fruits fleshy, globose, didymous.
About 60 species in Mediterranean, Africa, temperate Asia and America; 4 taxa in Taiwan.