The Collaborative International Dictionary
Rubia tinctoria
Rubiaceous \Ru`bi*a"ceous\, a. [L. rubia madder, fr. rubeus red.] (Bot.) Of or pertaining to a very large natural order of plants ( Rubiace[ae]) named after the madder ( Rubia tinctoria), and including about three hundred and seventy genera and over four thousand species. Among them are the coffee tree, the trees yielding peruvian bark and quinine, the madder, the quaker ladies, and the trees bearing the edible fruits called genipap and Sierre Leone peach, besides many plants noted for the beauty or the fragrance of their blossoms.
Usage examples of "rubia tinctoria".
The natural order Rubiaceae, to which the Madder (Rubia tinctoria) and our common wild plants, the Clivers, the Bedstraws and Sweet Woodruff belong, comprises upwards of 3,000 species.