What is "rubiaceae"

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.

The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules. The family contains about 13,500 species in 611 genera, which makes it the fourth-largest angiosperm family. Rubiaceae has a cosmopolitan distribution, however, the largest species diversity is concentrated in the (sub)tropics. Economic importance includes Coffea, the source of coffee, Cinchona, the source of quinine used to treat malaria, some dye plants (e.g. Rubia), and ornamental cultivars (e.g. Gardenia, Ixora, Pentas).