Date de publication : Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 8: 327-329, tab. 18-19. 1807 [12/03/1807, fide S. Raphael, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 2: [61-]63[-76]. 26/03/1970].

Distribution : Néotropical (GBIF), au moins 120 espèces, avec deux principaux centres de diversité, l'un dans les forêts atlantiques brésiliennes, l'autre dans le NW de l'Amérique du Sud (Zappi 2003).

Identification : D'après Lachenaud et al. (Phytotaxa, 531(3): 154. 21/01/2022): "mostly shrubs or small understory forest trees. It is closely related to Palicourea Aubl. 1775 sensu lato [...] and Eumachia DC. 1830, from which it differs chiefly by the entire or fimbriate (i.e., never bifid) stipules provided with glandular appendages (Taylor et al. 2015). Other helpful diagnostic characters for Rudgea are the distylous flowers with a white or cream-colored corolla, seeds with a deep T-shaped ventral groove in cross-section, and fruits white, yellow, orange, red, brown or black, never blue or purple (Zappi 2003, Taylor et al. 2015). Characters shared by all genera of the tribe include a valvate corolla aestivation, usually terminal inflorescences (axillary in some species of Palicourea), presence of raphides, bilocular ovary with a single erect ovule in each locule, drupaceous fruits, and marcescent stipules."

Taxonomie : D'après Lachenaud et al. (Phytotaxa, 531(3): 154. 21/01/2022): "The genus is taxonomically poorly known in several areas of its range, especially in the Guianas. Steyermark (1967) presented a conspectus of the species from Venezuela, the Guianas and northern Brazil (together with a few from elsewhere), but no recent revision is available for the region."

Type : Rudgea lanceifolia Salisb. 1807 [ltype désigné par Steyermark, Mem. New York Bot. Gard., 17(1): 396. 22/12/1967, fide p.de titre] (Guyane française, J. Martin).
A sa description inclut également une autre espèce: Rudgea ovalifolia Salisb. 1807 [= Rudgea lanceifolia Salisb. 1807] (Guyane française, J. Martin).