Afrocanthium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It consists of deciduous, unarmed trees, and shrubs. They are native to East Africa, from Sudan and Ethiopia to South Africa.[1]
Afrocanthium was first recognized as a distinct group in 1991, when it was named as a subgenus of Canthium.[2] It was described and compared to the other subgenera in 1992.[1] In 2004, a molecular phylogenetic study of DNA sequences showed that Afrocanthium is monophyletic and not most closely related to the other subgenera of Canthium.[3] The authors of this study raised Afrocanthium, unaltered, to generic status. It is sister to Keetia, a genus that was segregated from Canthium in 1986.[4]