''Falcataria'' is a genus of

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 ...

s in the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

. It belongs to the monophyletic Mimosoid clade in the subfamily

Caesalpinioideae Caesalpinioideae is a botanical name at the rank of subfamily, placed in the large family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. Its name is formed from the generic name '' Caesalpinia''. It is known also as the peacock flower subfamily. The Caesalpinioideae a ...

. The genus has three species previously classified in the ''Falcataria'' section of the genus '' Paraserianthes'' by I.C. Neilsen. The distribution of these closely related species within the genus ''Falcataria'' links the wet tropics of north-east Australia to New Guinea, the Moluccas, Bismarck Archipelago, and the Solomon Islands east of Wallace's line similar to other plant taxa from the region.

Species

*''

Falcataria falcata ''Falcataria falcata'' (syns. Albizia falcata, Falcataria moluccana and Paraserianthes falcataria), commonly known as the Moluccan albizia, is a species of fast-growing tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to the Maluku Islands, New Guinea, ...

'' (formerly ''Falcataria moluccana'') (Miq.) Barneby & J.W.Grimes (Native to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West ...

, the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

, and the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about . History The first inhabitants of the archipela ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

) *'' Falcataria pullenii'' (Verdc.) G.K. Brown, D.J. Murphy & P.Y. Ladiges (Native to

) *'' Falcataria toona'' (Bailey), G.K. Brown, D.J. Murphy & P.Y. Ladiges (Native to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

)

Taxonomy

''Falcataria falcata'' had previously been classified within the genera ''Adenanthera'', ''

Albizia ''Albizia'' is a genus of more than 160 species of mostly fast-growing subtropical and tropical trees and shrubs in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae. The genus is pantropical, occurring in Asia, Africa, Madagascar, America and A ...

'', and '' Paraserianthes'' before being moved to the new genus ''Falcataria'', as the most widely distributed of the three species in the genus. This widely cultivated timber tree is still called by the common name "albizia" in Hawaii and elsewhere. The two additional species in the genus '' Paraserianthes'' (''P. pullenii'' and ''P. toona'') were identified using morphology to form the Falcataria group with ''P. falcataria'' (=''

Falcataria moluccana ''Falcataria falcata'' (syns. Albizia falcata, Falcataria moluccana and Paraserianthes falcataria), commonly known as the Moluccan albizia, is a species of fast-growing tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to the Maluku Islands, New Guinea, ...

'') by I.C. Neilsen. A molecular phylogenetics study using

genomic DNA Genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (abbreviated as gDNA) is chromosomal DNA, in contrast to extra-chromosomal DNAs like plasmids. Most organisms have the same genomic DNA in every cell; however, only certain genes are active in each cell to allow for c ...

and

chloroplast DNA Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA), also known as plastid DNA (ptDNA) is the DNA located in chloroplasts, which are photosynthetic organelles located within the cells of some eukaryotic organisms. Chloroplasts, like other types of plastid, contain a genome s ...

sequence data of these two species found them be closely related to ''

''. These three species formed a well supported clade together that was distinctly different from '' Paraserianthes lophantha'' and so were moved to the genus ''Falcataria''. *'' Falcataria pullenii'' (Verdc.) G.K. Brown, D.J. Murphy & P.Y. Ladiges = ''Paraserianthes pullenii'' (Verdc.) I.C. Nielsen *'' Falcataria toona'' (Bailey), G.K. Brown, D.J. Murphy & P.Y. Ladiges = ''Paraserianthes toona'' (F.M. Bailey) I.C. Nielsen

References

External links

* * Mimosoids Fabaceae genera Taxa named by James Walter Grimes Taxa named by Rupert Charles Barneby Flora of the Australasian realm {{Mimosoideae-stub