Elmar RobbrechtMeise Botanic Garden · Research Department
Elmar Robbrecht
PhD, Hab
Systematics, phylogeny and floristics of Rubiaceae
About
273
Publications
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Introduction
From 1974 employed by the National Botanic Garden of Belgium; research: phylogeny and systematics of tropical Rubiaceae, with emphasis on central Africa. Retired 2011, but continuing research and editorial work.
1985-2011: graduate courses at the Dep. Biology, Univ. Antwerpen (part-time ‘hoogleraar’).
Editor of "Systematics and Geography of Plants" (1999-2009).
Editor in chief of "Plant Ecology and Evolution" (2010-2020).
Member of the Belgian Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences.
Additional affiliations
September 1985 - September 2011
University Antwerp
Position
- hoogleraar (part time)
Description
- courses plant systematics & theoretical systematics
May 1974 - February 2011
Publications
Publications (273)
Recent studies on the circumscription of the tribe Coffeeae (Rubiaceae) revealed a weakly supported clade containing Tricalysia A. Rich. and the allied genera Argocoffeopsis Lebrun, Calycosiphonia Pierre ex Robbr., Belonophora Hook. f., Diplospora DC., Discospermum Dalzell, Nostolachma T. Durand, and Xantonnea Pierre ex Pit. The phylogenetic relati...
Two analyses are carried out for a reconstruction of the phylogeny of the large angiosperm family Rubiaceae. The position of Luculia and Coptosapelta, unresolved or sister to all other Rubiaceae in most of the recently published results, is reanalysed by using five plastid and three nuclear DNA regions sequenced for selected Rubiaceae taxa. A super...
In the 1990s Rubiaceae became a hot spot for systematists, mainly due to the comprehensive treatment of the family by Robbrecht in 1988. Next to the exploration of macromolecular characters to infer the phylogeny, the palynology of Rubiaceae finally received the attention it deserves. This article aims to present a state-of-the-art analysis of the...
This publication comprises a regional treatment of the tribe Coffeeae‚ Rubiaceae. The delimitation of this paleotropical tribe follows that corresponding to present-day phylogenetic findings. Of the nine tropical African genera belonging to this tribe, only the Lower Guinean genus Kupeantha is not represented in the three countries covered by this...
Field work in the Kibira National Park (Burundi), located in the Kivu-Ruwenzori system of the Afromontane Region, revealed the existence of a new species clearly belonging to the Argocoffeopsis-Calycosiphonia clade (Coffeeae, Rubiaceae). The species shows striking heterophylly: the plagiotropous branches have several nodes bearing reduced or even s...
web page
In C. M. Taylor & collaborators, Rubiaceae Project. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. http://legacy.tropicos.org/Name/40029303?projectid=34".
web page
In C. M. Taylor & collaborators, Rubiaceae Project. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. http://legacy.tropicos.org/Name/40029303?projectid=34".
Background – Vegetative and fruit characters of the Amazonian genus Dialypetalanthus point to a position in Rubiaceae. However, its floral morphology is so deviant that the genus was often placed in a family of its own. Even relationships outside Gentianales were postulated. Current molecular phylogenetic studies firmly show that Dialypetalanthus b...
Homblé collected plants in Guangxi (China) before becoming famous as one of the first collectors in Katanga (DR Congo). His Chinese collection erroneously was inserted in the African herbarium in BR. As a result, four African species were described from Chinese material. After a century, their genuine identity is now elucidated, e.g. Caesalpinia ho...
A flora treatment is provided for two tribes of the Rubiaceae
subfamily Rubioideae, the Anthospermeae and Rubieae, with identification keys,
descriptions of the species (five in Anthospermeae, eleven in Rubieae), data
on synonyms, chorology, habitat, vernacular names and uses. Representative
herbarium specimens and references to additional literatu...
Illustrated essay on the art of botanical illustration, mainly as practiced at Meise Botanic Garden. In Dutch and French.
The original set of botanical collections of the agronomist H.A. Homblé is conserved in the herbarium BR. Homblé was one of the first collectors (1911–1913) for the flora of Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many Homblé specimens were described as taxonomic novelties; 107 tropical African plant species are named after him. Before his colon...
Robbrecht E, De Block P., Dessein S & Lachenaud O. (2020)
Rubiaceae, Introduction, 199 pp.
In : Sosef M. (ed.) Flore d’afrique centrale (République démocratique du Congo − Rwanda − Burundi), Nouvelle série, Spermatophyta. Meise Botanic Garden
This first part of the treatment of the Rubiaceae occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwand...
Floristic diversity, succession and dynamics of post-cultural fallows in the Mbobero locality (Kabare Territory, South Kivu, DR Congo) A synchronic study was carried out in fallow land divided into three age classes (0-3 years, 4-7 years and more than 8 years) of the Mbobero site in post-cropping fallows as a fundamental component of agrarian lands...
Abstract
This study was done in different forests Chablis and Edges dominated by the Pteridium aquilinum species in the mountain area of Ka-huzi-Biega National Park (PNKB), eastern D.R. Congo, along the Mitumba range, in the Albertine Rift. The main goal of this study is to demonstrate the role of that patch of ferns in the recolonization of degrad...
Phytogeographic theories complement classic biodiversity data with spatial information and constitute a potential tool for conservation biology. The studies presented in this paper analyse diversity patterns of Lycophytes and Ferns in the mountains of Kahuzi-Biega National Park (KBNP) which is located in other regional endemic centers of the DRC ac...
Although most Rubiaceae species occur in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide, a substantial amount is also present in more temperate areas on the northern and southern hemisphere. Simultaneous to the change in climate preference within certain lineages of the Rubiaceae family, there is also a shift from woody shrubs and trees to a more herba...
Presentation of the variation of the large family Rubiaceae for staff of Botanic Garden Meise.
Although this contribution first
aimed at documenting some fifty herbarium sheets kept in RB (Rio de Janeiro) and collected
by a collaborator from the Belgian State Botanic Garden (BR) at the end of the 19th century,
it finally opened Pandora’s Box. Painstaking research in several herbaria and in vast amounts
of historical sources has led to the de...
ABSTRACT: Though the national Kahuzi-Biega Park be necessarily covered with a forest of well distinguished canopy; it also
possesses disturbed areas. This work aims at studying the floristic composition of Ferns and Fern Allies to assess vegetation
disturbances in the mountain forests (ranging from 1250 meters to 3000 meters) within the Kahuzi-Bieg...
Abstract
This article focuses on the use and the vocabulary of 323 specimens
representing 52 species woody species that were collected from three ethnosocio-
linguistic groups (Shi, Tembo and Pygmies) living in the ecological
corridor of Kahuzi -Biega National Park (KBNP). This area consists of a
transitional forest between the vegetation of the pl...
This is the first phylogenetic study focused on the Pavetteae, one of the most species-rich and morphologically
diverse tribes within the coffee family (Rubiaceae). Fifteen of the 17 currently recognized genera, represented by 85 taxa, were sequenced for rps16, trnT-F and ITS and analysed using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood methods. The...
The studies presented in this paper analyse diversity patterns of Ferns and Allies in the mountains of
Kahuzi Biega National Park (KBNP) which is located in other regional endemic centers of the D.R. of
the Congo (DRC) according to WHITE. This area is known for its floristic richness and its high level
of endemism. We conducted a phytogeographical...
Georges Bronckart (born 1881) was a Belgian orchid amateur who collected in Vietnam between ca. 1900 to 1905. He also made illustrations of some of his collections. Duplicate material was sent to the Belgian botanists Cogniaux and De Wildeman. The former described five new varieties within the genera Aerides, Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis and Stauropsis...
Nous signalons la présence des espèces nouvellement reportées pour la flore Ptéridologique de la République Démocratique du Congo (RDC), découvertes lors de notre exploration dans la forêt des montagnes du Parc National de Kahuzi-Biega (PNKB), et indiquons leurs conditions écologiques et leurs distributions géographiques. La méthodologie utilisée e...
Cette étude se focalise sur la vérification de l’hypothèse que l’altitude influence l’occurrence de la flore des Fougères et leurs alliées au sein de l’écosystème forestier des montagnes du Parc National de Kahuzi-Biega. Un échantillonnage de la végétation y a été effectué en considérant 24 parcelles localisées par paires le long de 12 transects in...
This study comprises a phytogeographical analysis of forest ferns and
their allies of the Kahuzi Biega National Park (KBNP), located in
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The phytogeographical and floristic
affinities and dissimilarities were investigated for forested areas of the
Albertine Rift, Continental Africa and some mountainous areas outsi...
In the course of our investigations on Umutambasha in order to identify its convulsant principles, small quantities of monofluoroacetate were observed in stem bark, leaves, and fruits of this plant newly identified as Dichapetalum michelsonii Hauman. Conclusive evidence for a monofluoroacetate presence came from its isolation from the freeze-dried...
Nous signalons la présence des espèces nouvellement reportées pour la flore Ptéridologique de la
République Démocratique du Congo (RDC), découvertes lors de notre exploration dans la forêt des montagnes
du Parc National de Kahuzi-Biega (PNKB), et indiquons leurs conditions écologiques et leurs distributions
géographiques. La méthodologie utilisée e...
The first catalogue of plants collected in Brazil by Prince Maximilian of Wied is presented. It was compiled from data currently available in literature, herbarium databases, and from searches for specimens in herbaria B, BR, FR, G, GOET, GZU, LD, M, MEL, TO, W, and in the private collection of Wied (Herbarium Wied) in Neuwied, Germany. The catalog...
An ethnobotanic survey has been made in the surroundings of the Kahuzi Biega National Park (KBNP) in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Our aims were to document the use of Pteridophytes by the neighbouring population of KBNP Mountains, and to link our data with conservation issues. Our inventories show that 41 Pteridophytes specie...
The genus Sericanthe was established and its species were revised 30 years ago by one of the authors. Intensive recent botanical collecting in Lower Guinea (mainly southern Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon) has made a reconsideration of species in this area necessary. Revision of the newly collected Lower Guinean herbarium specimens of Serican...
RESUME.-Le présent article se consacre sur la checklist des Ptéridophytes du Parc National de Kahuzi-Biega qui se trouve à l'est de la République Démocratique du Congo (RD Congo). Au total 5987 spécimens conservés aux herbariums en Belgique, en Pays-Bas et de la RD Congo ont été analysés. Les spécimens ont été identifiés et groupés dans les famille...
Bacterial leaf symbiosis is an intimate association between bacteria and plants in which endosymbionts are housed within leaf nodules. This phenomenon has been reported in three genera of Rubiaceae (Pavetta, Psychotria, and Sericanthe), but the bacterial partner has only been identified in Psychotria and Pavetta. Here we report the identification o...
Plant collections in herbaria are potentially valuable seed sources for conservation and recovery. This paper explores the feasibility of "resurrecting" 26 extinct taxa from the Belgian flora by analysing the viability of seeds from old herbarium specimens that had been stored for 23 to 158 years. Seed viability was estimated by performing germinat...
Phialiphora Groeninckx is described as a new herbaceous genus of Rubiaceae, endemic to NW Madagascar. The genus belongs to the predominantly herbaceous tribe Spermacoceae, and comprises two species: P. bevazahensis Groeninckx and P. capitulata Groeninckx. Phialiphora is unique within Spermacoceae in having heart-shaped placentas distally attached t...
Phialiphora Groeninckx is described as a new herbaceous genus of Rubiaceae, endemic to NW Madagascar. The genus belongs to the predominantly herbaceous tribe Spermacoceae, and comprises two species: P. bevazahensis Groeninckx and P. capitulata Groeninckx. Phialiphora is unique within Spermacoceae in having heart‐shaped placentas distally attached t...
Amphistemon and Thamnoldenlandia are described as two new genera of Rubiaceae endemic to Madagascar. The two novelties belong to the predominantly herbaceous tribe Spermacoceae. Amphistemon is unique within the tribe in having its stamens inserted at two levels in the corolla tube. The genus includes two species: the subshrub A. humbertii and the g...
Georges Bronckart (born 1881) was a Belgian orchid amateur who collected in Vietnam between ca. 1900 to 1905. He also made illustrations of some of his collections. Duplicate material was sent to the Belgian botanists Cogniaux and De Wildeman. The former described five new varieties within the genera Aerides, Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis and Stauropsis...
Georges Bronckart (born 1881) was a Belgian orchid amateur who collected in Vietnam between ca. 1900 to 1905. He also made illustrations of some of his collections. Duplicate material was sent to the Belgian botanists Cogniaux and De Wildeman. The former described five new varieties within the genera Aerides, Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis and Stauropsis...
The genus Polysphaeria was only in 2007 recorded for the Gulf of Guinea Islands. A specimen collected on Bioko ('Fernando Po') by Mildbraed in 1911 remained unnamed in the Rubiaceae until 1967 when it was erroneously filed under Coffea. It is in fact Polysphaeria macrophylla K.Schum., also known from the African mainland (Liberia to Cameroon). Poly...
Pollen and seed morphological data refute that Borreria hockii (R.D. Congo, Katanga) is synonymous to Spermacoce thymoidea (Southwest Angola, Huila). For the former, the necessary combination Spermacoce hockii is given; Spermacoce homblei, described from Katanga, is shown to be synonymous. The name Spermacoce thymoidea was also used for Zambian mat...
In 1903 and 1904, Georges Bronckart, a Belgian living in Indochina, corresponded with the orchid specialist Alfred Cogniaux. Five of his letters, in French, conserved in BR, are reproduced here. They deal with specimens send from Annam (Vietnam) to Belgium, ask for information on their identification, and make proposals for trade. The scanty biogra...
In 1903 and 1904, Georges Bronckart, a Belgian living in Indochina, corresponded with the orchid specialist Alfred Cogniaux. Five of his letters, in French, conserved in BR, are reproduced here. They deal with specimens send from Annam (Vietnam) to Belgium, ask for information on their identification, and make proposals for trade. The scanty biogra...
Colletoecema magna, a new species from the Ngovayang Massif (southern cameroon) is described and illustrated. A comparative morphological study illustrates the similar placentation and fruit anatomy of the novelty and Colletoecema dewevrei, the only other species of the genus. Colletoecema magna essentially differs from C. dewevrei by its sessile f...
A first phylogenetic placement of Petitiocodon based on molecular sequence data from three plastid regions (accD-psa1, rpl16 and trnL-F) is presented, in conjunction with a reassessment of morphology for the genus. Our results do not support an evolutionary affinity between Petitiocodon and Tricalysia (Coffeeae) as suggested by previous studies, bu...
Reçu le 21-06-2006, accepté le 15-02-2008. Résumé Cette étude a pour but d'analyser les modèles de distribution spatiale des Acanthaceae, récoltées en République Démocratique du Congo, au Rwanda et au Burundi et de comparer leur répartition spatiale avec les systèmes phytogéographiques qui couvrent cette zone. Elle porte sur 9181 échantillons regro...
Cyclotides are disulfide-rich miniproteins with the unique structural features of a circular backbone and knotted arrangement of three conserved disulfide bonds. Cyclotides have been found only in two plant families: in every analyzed species of the violet family (Violaceae) and in few species of the coffee family (Rubiaceae). In this study, we ana...