Lelya

{{Short description|Genus of plants}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|image =

|image_caption =

|taxon = Lelya

|authority = Bremek.

|synonyms = {{species list

|Lelya prostrata |W.H.Lewis

|Lelya prostrata var. elongata |Verdc.

|Spermacoce prostrata |R.D.Good }}

}}

Lelya is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Rubiaceae.{{cite web |title=Lelya Bremek. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77126884-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=17 May 2021 |language=en}} It only contains one known species, Lelya osteocarpa Bremek. {{cite web |title=Lelya osteocarpa Bremek. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:755229-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=16 October 2021 |language=en}}

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.{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition |trans-title=Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2018 | isbn=978-3-946292-26-5 | url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2018 |format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2018 | s2cid=187926901 |access-date=1 January 2021}} The Latin specific epithet of osteocarpa is derived from 2 words, osteo from the Greek word meaning bone and also carpa is derived from carpus meaning fruit.{{cite book | last=Harrison |first=Lorraine | title=RHS Latin for Gardeners | year=2012 |publisher=Mitchell Beazley | location=United Kingdom | isbn=978-1845337315 }}

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.