''Lelya'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Rubiaceae. It only contains one known species, Lelya osteocarpa Bremek. Its native range is Tropical Africa. It is found in Angola, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia and Zaïre. The genus name of ''Lelya'' is in honour of Hugh Vandervaes Lely (1891–1947), an English botanist and forester in Nigeria. The Latin

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

of ''osteocarpa'' is derived from 2 words, ''osteo'' from the Greek word meaning bone and also ''carpa'' is derived from ''carpus'' meaning fruit. Both genus and species were first described and published in Verh. Kon. Ned. Akad. Wetensch., Afd. Natuurk., Sect. 2, Vol.48 (Issue 2) on page 181 in 1952.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q9021289, from2=Q15469801 Rubiaceae Rubiaceae genera Plants described in 1952 Flora of South Tropical Africa Flora of East Tropical Africa