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 ...

Sophoreae is one of the subdivisions of the plant

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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

. 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 purpose of classifying organisms that do not fit anywhere else. They are typically defined by e ...

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 ...

which exhibit

actinomorphic 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 spirall ...

, rather than

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 spir ...

floral symmetry and/or incompletely differentiated petals and free stamens. Various morphological and

molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, ...

analyses indicated that Sophoreae as traditionally circumscribed was

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

. This led to a re-circumscription of Sophoreae, which resulted in the transfer of many genera to other tribes ( Amburaneae, Angylocalyceae, Baphieae, Camoensieae, the ''Cladrastis'' clade, Exostyleae, Leptolobieae, Ormosieae,

Podalyrieae The tribe Podalyrieae is one of the subdivisions of the plant family Fabaceae. Description The Podalyrieae arose 30.5 ± 2.6 million years ago (in the Oligocene) in the fynbos (Cape Floristic Region) of South Africa and is still mostly found the ...

, and the

Vataireoids The vataireoids are an early-branching monophyly, 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 gene ...

). 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 ( ) 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 ...

). 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 ...

has yet to be undertaken, but members of this tribe can be distinguished by the relatively simple flowers, unspecialized pinnate leaves, accumulation of

quinolizidine Quinolizidine (norlupinane, octahydro-2''H''-quinolizine) is a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound. Some alkaloids (e.g. cytisine and sparteine) are derivatives of quinolizidine. Quinolizidine alkaloids Quinolizidine alkaloids, such as ...

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 A most recent common ancestor (MRCA), also known as a last common ancestor (LCA), is the most recent individual from which all organisms of a set are inferred to have descended. The most recent common ancestor of a higher taxon is generally assu ...

of '' Bolusanthus speciosus'' (Bolus) Harms and '' Sophora davidii'' (Franch.) Pavol..

Genera

Sophoreae comprises the following genera: * '' Ammodendron'' Fisch. ex DC. * '' Ammopiptanthus'' S. H. Cheng * '' Ammothamnus'' Bunge * '' Anagyris'' L. * '' Baptisia'' Vent. * '' Bolusanthus'' Harms * '' Dicraeopetalum'' Harms * '' Euchresta'' (Lesch.) Benn. * '' Maackia'' Rupr. * '' Neoharmsia'' R.Vig. * '' Piptanthus'' Sweet * '' Platycelyphium'' Harms * '' Salweenia'' 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 formerl ...

Genera

Notes

References

External links