Guettarda

Guettarda is a plant genus in the family Rubiaceae. Most of these plants are known by the common name velvetseed.

Distribution

Most of the species are Neotropical. Twenty are found in New Caledonia and one reaches Australia. A few others are found on islands and in coastal areas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is a tree of coastal habitats, up to in height.

Taxonomy

Three species are known in cultivation. Guettarda argentea provides edible fruit. The type species for the genus is Guettarda speciosa.
Guettarda was named by Linnaeus in 1753 in his book Species Plantarum. This generic name is in honour of the 18th century French naturalist Jean-Étienne Guettard.
The genus Guettarda is much in need of revision. Molecular phylogenetic studies have found it to be several times polyphyletic with some of its clades paraphyletic over small genera.

Species

Plants of the World Online currently accepts 145 species, which are listed below. Other estimates of the number of species range from about 50 to 162.

Formerly placed here

Tinadendron noumeanum
Tournefortiopsis crispiflora subsp. ''discolor''