The Catesbaeeae-Chiococceae complex is a group of woody rubiaceous plants with approximately 26 genera and 195 species, of which 16 genera and ca. 135 species occur in the Greater Antilles. There is ample molecular evidence that the complex is a monophyletic group. A pollen morphological study using LM and SEM was undertaken in order to evaluate the systematic value of pollen characters in the circumscription of the complex and generic delimitations. The Catesbaeeae-Chiococceae complex is remarkably stenopalynous. Representatives have medium sized, 3-colpate pollen with a perforate tectum that is covered with microspines. This type of sexine ornamentation is to our knowledge unique within the Rubiaceae and therefore a synapomorphy of the complex. The inner nexine ornamentation is pronounced and offers more variation than the sexine pattern. Orbicules occur abundantly in the study group. All orbicules observed are relatively large (1-4 µm) and spiny, illustrating the much cited parallelism between sexine and orbicule ornamentation. Our results show that pollen and orbicule morphology is a powerful tool to delimit the Catesbaeeae-Chiococceae complex. The genus Placocarpa for instance was excluded from the complex based on its deviating pollen morphology. An exhaustive study of most species of the Catesbaeeae-Chiococceae complex focusing on the generic definitions and the possible correlations between pollen morphology and pollinators is in progress.