Rudgea viburnoides

Rudgea viburnoides is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the madder family Rubiaceae, native to the Brazilian Cerrado and adjacent savanna and woodland of central and southeastern South America. It typically grows two to six metres tall, with stiff branches and opposite, leathery, obovate to elliptic leaves that are glossy and prominently veined, joined by interpetiolar stipules characteristic of the family. The fragrant flowers are white to cream and tubular with spreading lobes, borne in dense terminal clusters (cymes or panicles), and are followed by small fleshy berry-like fruits that ripen dark and are dispersed by birds. It is a conspicuous component of the Cerrado flora, tolerant of the seasonally dry, fire-prone and nutrient-poor conditions of that biome. Long known to local people, it is popularly called congonha, congonha-de-bugre or simply bugre, names shared with several other plants whose leaves have been used as substitutes for or adulterants of mate.