Complete
This is an archived version of a Tree of Life page. For up-to-date information, please refer to the current version of this page.

Papilionoideae

Martin F. Wojciechowski
taxon links [down<--]Fabaceae Interpreting the tree
close box

This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

example of a tree diagram

You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.

For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.

close box
Containing group: Fabaceae

Introduction

Papilionoideae (the "papilionoids"), the largest of the three subfamilies of Fabaceae with 476 genera and 13,860 species, is also the most diverse and widely distributed, and includes most of the familiar domesticated food and forage crops and model genetic/genomic species (Gepts et al., 2005).

Characteristics

Papilionoideae is characterized by pentamerous, zygomorphic papilionoid (pea-like) flowers that have differentiated an adaxial petal (banner or standard) that is external to the others in bud, and abaxial and lateral pairs of petals (keel and wings, respectively), with the keel petals fused to enclose the stamens and gynoecium. Although this floral architecture is ubiquitous in the subfamily, exceptions do occur, with nearly actinomorphic flowers (e.g., Cadia in tribe Sophoreae; Inocarpus in tribe Dalbergieae) and flowers lacking 1 or more of the five petals known from several groups (e.g., tribe Amorpheae).

Unlike the other subfamilies, many papilionoids have the ability to synthesize quinolizidine alkaloids, isoflavones, and non-protein amino acids such as canavanine, while bipinnate leaves, complex leaf glands and compound pollen grains are lacking (Polhill, 1994).

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

Although the majority of tribes are still defined in a more traditional sense (e.g. Polhill, 1994) the results of phylogenetic studies from the last 10 years necessitate quite radical shifts in inter- and intra-tribal relationships within the subfamily, and these insights have profound implications with regard to papilionoid evolution.

Papilionoideae has been consistently resolved (and strongly supported) as monophyletic in analyses of molecular data (e.g., Doyle et al., 1997, 2000; Pennington et al., 2001; Wojciechowski et al., 2004), but on morphological criteria the uncertainty regarding the position of papilionoid tribes such as Swartzieae, long considered 'transitional' between Caesalpinioideae and Papilionoideae, has clouded this issue. Rather than being resolved as the sister group to an isolated caesalpinioid lineage(s), as are the mimosoids, papilionoids are sister to the large clade comprised of Caesalpinieae sens. lat., Cassieae sens. strict., and Mimosoideae in the legume phylogeny (Wojciechowski et al., 2004). Although papilionoids have been considered to contain most of the "derived" groups within the family (e.g., predominantly herbaceous groups), fossil evidence and divergence time estimates clearly indicate the oldest crown clades within papilionoids are comparable in age (39 to 59 Ma) to the oldest caesalpinioid diversifications (Lavin et al., 2005).

Based on results from such studies papilionoids can be broadly divided into the following main subclades and groups: Swartzieae sens. str., the Cladrastis clade, the Genistoid clade, the Dalbergioid sens. lat. clade, Mirbelioid sens. lat. clade, Millettioid sens. lat. clade, Hologalegina, and several weakly supported and/or partially resolved groups such as the "basal papilionoid" groups (including members of tribes Swartzieae, Sophoreae, Dalbergieae and Dipterygeae), and the Baphioid clade.

References

Doyle, J.J., J.L. Doyle, J.A. Ballenger, E.E. Dickson, T. Kajita, and H. Ohashi. 1997. A phylogeny of the chloroplast gene rbcL in the Leguminosae: taxonomic correlations and insights into the evolution of nodulation. Amer. J. Bot. 84: 541-554.

Doyle, J.J., J.A. Chappill, C.D. Bailey, and T. Kajita. 2000. Towards a comprehensive phylogeny of legumes: evidence from rbcL sequences and non-molecular data. Pages 1-20 in Advances in legume systematics, part 9, (P. S. Herendeen and A. Bruneau, eds.). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.

Gepts, P., W.D. Beavis, E.C. Brummer, R.C. Shoemaker, H.T. Stalker, N.F. Weeden, and N.D. Young. 2005. Legumes as a model plant family. Genomics for food and feed report of the cross-legume advances through genomics conference. Plant Physiol. 137: 1228 ? 1235.

Lavin, M., P.S. Herendeen, and M.F. Wojciechowski. 2005. Evolutionary rates analysis of Leguminosae implicates a rapid diversification of lineages during the Tertiary. Syst. Biol. 54: 530-549.

Pennington, R.T., M. Lavin, H. Ireland, B.B. Klitgaard, and J. Preston. 2001. Phylogenetic relationships of basal papilionoid legumes based upon sequences of the chloroplast trnL intron. Syst. Bot. 26: 537-566.

Polhill, R.M. 1994. Classification of the Leguminosae. Pages xxxv?xlviii in Phytochemical dictionary of the Leguminosae (F. A. Bisby, J. Buckingham, and J. B. Harborne, eds.). Chapman and Hall, New York, NY.

Wojciechowski, M. F., M. Lavin, and M. J. Sanderson. 2004. A phylogeny of legumes (Leguminosae) based on analysis of the plastid matK gene resolves many well-supported subclades within the family. American Journal of Botany 91: 1846-1862.

Title Illustrations
Scientific Name Vigna speciosa (Kunth) Verdc.
Location Mesa, Arizona
Comments Commonly called Snail Vines.
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Copyright ©
Scientific Name Erythrina amazonica Krukoff
Location Ecuador
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Copyright © Robin Foster
Scientific Name Calia secundiflora (Ortega) Yakovlev (= Sophora secundiflora)
Location Arizona State University campus
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By M F Wojciechowski
Copyright © Martin F. Wojciechowski
About This Page

Martin F. Wojciechowski
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Martin F. Wojciechowski at

Citing this page:

Wojciechowski, Martin F. 2006. Papilionoideae. Version 14 June 2006. http://tolweb.org/Papilionoideae/60240/2006.06.14 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org

close box

This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Papilionoideae

Page Content

articles & notes

Treehouses

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top