Sophoreae
Sophoreae
Tribe of legumes
The tribe Sophoreae is one of the subdivisions of the plant family Fabaceae. Traditionally this tribe has been used as a wastebasket taxon to accommodate genera of Faboideae which exhibit actinomorphic, rather than zygomorphic floral symmetry and/or incompletely differentiated petals and free stamens.[2][3][4] Various morphological[5][6][7][8] and molecular[9][10][11][12][13] analyses indicated that Sophoreae as traditionally circumscribed was polyphyletic.[14] 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, and the Vataireoids).[2] This also necessitated the inclusion of two former tribes, Euchresteae and Thermopsideae, in the new definition of Sophoreae.[2][15][16][17][18] Tribe Sophoreae, as currently circumscribed, consistently forms a monophyletic clade in molecular phylogenetic analyses.[2][12][17][19][20][21][22] The Sophoreae arose 40.8 ± 2.4 million years ago (in the Eocene).[8][23]
Description of morphological synapomorphies 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,[24] and the presence of free stamens.[2] The tribe does have a node-based definition: the crown clade originating from the most recent common ancestor of Bolusanthus speciosus (Bolus) Harms and Sophora davidii (Franch.) Pavol..[23]
