tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...
Sophoreae is one of the subdivisions of the plant
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Fabaceae. Traditionally this tribe has been used as a
wastebasket taxon
Wastebasket taxon (also called a wastebin taxon, dustbin taxon or catch-all taxon) is a term used by some taxonomists to refer to a taxon that has the sole purpose of classifying organisms that do not fit anywhere else. They are typically define ...
to accommodate genera of
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 ...
zygomorphic
Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts.
Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spiral ...
floral symmetry and/or incompletely differentiated petals and free stamens. Various morphological and
molecular
A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioch ...
analyses indicated that Sophoreae as traditionally
circumscribed
In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius.
Not every po ...
was
polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...
. This led to a re-circumscription of Sophoreae, which resulted in the transfer of many genera to other tribes ( Amburaneae,
Angylocalyceae
The tribe Angylocalyceae is one of the subdivisions of the plant family Fabaceae. It has been circumscribed to include the following genera, which had been placed in tribe Sophoreae:
* ''Alexa'' Moq.
* '' Angylocalyx'' Taub.
* ''Castanospermum'' ...
Vataireoids
The vataireoids are an early-branching monophyletic clade of the flowering plant subfamily Faboideae (or Papilionaceae) that are mostly found in northern South America, primarily Brazil.
Description
This clade is composed of four genera, two of ...
). This also necessitated the inclusion of two former tribes, Euchresteae and Thermopsideae, in the new definition of Sophoreae. Tribe Sophoreae, as currently circumscribed, consistently forms a monophyletic clade in molecular phylogenetic analyses. The Sophoreae arose 40.8 ± 2.4 million years ago (in the
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...
).
Description of 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 hav ...
has yet to be undertaken, but members of this tribe can be distinguished by the relatively simple flowers, unspecialized pinnate leaves, accumulation of quinolizidine alkaloids, and the presence of free stamens. The tribe does have a node-based definition: the crown clade originating from the
most recent common ancestor
In biology and genetic genealogy, the most recent common ancestor (MRCA), also known as the last common ancestor (LCA) or concestor, of a set of organisms is the most recent individual from which all the organisms of the set are descended. The ...
of ''
Bolusanthus speciosus
''Bolusanthus speciosus'' (tree wisteria) is a species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. It is the only member of the genus ''Bolusanthus'' .
Description
It is a small deciduous tree, which can gr ...
'' (Bolus) Harms and ''
Sophora davidii
''Sophora'' is a genus of about 45 species of small trees and shrubs in the pea family Fabaceae. The species have a pantropical distribution. The generic name is derived from ''sophera'', an Arabic name for a pea-flowered tree.
The genus formerl ...
'' (Franch.) Pavol..
Genera
Sophoreae comprises the following genera:
* ''
Ammodendron
''Ammodendron'' is a genus of flowering plants, called the sand acacias, in the family Fabaceae. It contains five species, which range from Iran through Central Asia to Xinjiang.Ammopiptanthus
The genus ''Ammopiptanthus'', endemic to the eastern desert of Central Asia, includes two species: ''A. mongolicus'' (Maxim.) Cheng f. and ''A. nanus'' (M. Pop.) Cheng f.
''Ammopiptanthus'' is the only genus of evergreen broadleaf shrub in the n ...
'' S. H. Cheng
* ''
Ammothamnus
''Ammothamnus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae
The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,Anagyris'' L.
* '' Baptisia'' Vent.
* '' Bolusanthus'' Harms
* ''
Dicraeopetalum
''Dicraeopetalum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes three species native to Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, and Madagascar.
Species
''Dicraeopetalum'' comprises the following species:
* ''Dicraeopetalum capuronianum' ...
'' Harms
* ''
Euchresta
''Euchresta'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. It includes four species native to eastern and southeastern Asia, from the eastern Himalayas to Indochina, southern China, Korea, Japan, T ...
Neoharmsia
''Neoharmsia'' is a genus of legume in the family Fabaceae
The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,R.Vig.
* ''
Piptanthus
''Piptanthus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and the subfamily Faboideae. It is most closely related to the genera Anagyris, Thermopsis (Asiatic spp.) and Vuralia.
Species
''Piptanthus'' comprises the following species:
...
'' Sweet
* ''
Platycelyphium
''Platycelyphium voense'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is a tree native to Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania in eastern Africa. It grows in bushland and thicket in the Somali-Masai region. It is the only member ...
'' Harms
* ''
Salweenia
''Salweenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae
The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily ...
'' Baker f.
* ''
Sophora
''Sophora'' is a genus of about 45 species of small trees and shrubs in the pea family Fabaceae. The species have a pantropical distribution. The generic name is derived from ''sophera'', an Arabic name for a pea-flowered tree.
The genus former ...
Vuralia
''Vuralia Uysal & Ertugrul'' is a Monotypic taxon, monotypic genus belonging to subfamily Faboideae of the legume family, Fabaceae, Endemism, endemic to the area surrounding lakes Lake Akşehir, Akşehir and Lake Eber, Eber in southwestern Turke ...