The

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Amorpheae is an early-branching

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

within the

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

subfamily

Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae, or Papilionaceae when this group of plants is treated as a family. This subfamily is widely ...

or Papilionaceae. It is found from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. It was recently found to belong in a larger clade known informally as the dalbergioids ''sensu lato''. This tribe is consistently resolved as

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

in molecular phylogenetic analyses. It is estimated to have arisen 36.9 ± 3.0 million years ago (in the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

). A node-based definition for Amorpheae is: "the MRCA of '' Psorothamnus arborescens'' and '' Eysenhardtia orthocarpa''." The tribe exhibits the following morphological

synapomorphies In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to ...

: "epidermal glands throughout the plant body; dry, indehiscent fruits that are single-seeded; and terminal inflorescences."

Subclades and genera

Amorphoids

The amorphoids can be distinguished from the daleoids on the basis of their non-papilionaceous flowers. * '' Amorpha'' L. * '' Apoplanesia'' C. Presl * '' Errazurizia'' Phil. * '' Eysenhardtia'' Kunth * '' Parryella'' Torr. & A. Gray

Daleoids

The daleoids can be distinguished from the amorphoids on the basis of their generally papilionaceous corollas. * '' Dalea'' L. * ''

Marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

'' Liebm. * '' Psorothamnus'' Rydb.

References

Fabaceae tribes {{Faboideae-stub