A TRIBAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE PERIPLOCOIDEAE (APOCYNACEAE)

The diagnostic features used to delimit genera are enumerated and crit ically analysed. Floral characteristics are important: shape and depth of the corolla tube, and positions of outer corona, stamens, and gyno stegium. Coronal structure is valuable but can be misleading. Vegetati ve features are sometimes consistent within genera and may serve as a complement to floral characteristics. The Periplocoideae are, for the first time, subdivided: three tribes are recognized, two of them newly described and named, and the individual genera and generic synonyms a re mentioned for each. Some nomenclatural new combinations, required a s a consequence of newly proposed synonyms, are validated in the gener a Camptocarpus (4), Cryptolepis (4), Decalepis (2), and Pentopetia (2) .