The Mimosoideae are a traditional subfamily of trees, herbs, lianas, and shrubs in the pea family (Fabaceae) that mostly grow in tropical and subtropical climates. They are typically characterized by having radially symmetric flowers, with petals that are twice divided (valvate) in bud and with numerous showy, prominent stamens.
The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and agriculturally important family of flowering plants. It includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants, which are easily recognized by their fruit (legume) and their compound, stipulate leaves. The family is widely distributed, and is the third-largest land plant family in number of species, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with about 765 genera and nearly 20,000 known species.
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 are mainly trees distributed in the moist tropics, but include such temperate species as the honeylocust and Kentucky coffeetree. It has the following clade-based definition:
The most inclusive crown clade containing Arcoa gonavensisUrb. and Mimosa pudicaL., but not Bobgunnia fistuloides(Harms) J. H. Kirkbr. & Wiersema, Duparquetia orchidaceaBaill., or Poeppigia proceraC.Presl
The winged bean, also known as cigarillas, goa bean, four-angled bean, four-cornered bean, manila bean, princess bean, star bean, kamrangi bean, pea, dragon bean, is a tropical herbaceous legume plant.
The subfamily Detarioideae is one of the subdivisions of the plant family Fabaceae (legumes). This subfamily includes many tropical trees, some of which are used for timber or have ecological importance. The subfamily consists of 84 genera, most of which are native to Africa and Asia. Pride of Burma and tamarind are two of the most notable species in Detarioideae. It has the following clade-based definition:
The most inclusive crown clade containing Goniorrhachis marginataTaub. and Aphanocalyx cynometroidesOliv., but not Cercis canadensisL., Duparquetia orchidaceaBaill., or Bobgunnia fistuloides(Harms) J. H. Kirkbr. & Wiersema.
Parkia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Several species are known as African locust bean.
Hydrochorea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes 11 species native to Central and South America and west and west-central Africa. It belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae.
Entada is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, in the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It consists of some 30 species of trees, shrubs and tropical lianas. About 21 species are known from Africa, six from Asia, two from the American tropics and one with a pantropical distribution. They have compound leaves and produce exceptionally large seedpods of up to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long. Their seeds are buoyant and survive lengthy journeys via rivers and ocean currents, to eventually wash up on tropical beaches.
Neptunia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae.
Parkia biglobosa, known in English as the African locust bean, is a perennial deciduous tree in the family Fabaceae. It is found in a wide range of environments in Africa and is primarily grown for its pods that contain both a sweet pulp and valuable seeds. Where the tree is grown, the crushing and fermenting of these seeds constitutes an important economic activity. Various parts of the locust bean tree are used for medicinal and food purposes. As a standing tree, locust bean may have a positive effect on the yield of other nearby crops.
Blanchetiodendron is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It contains a single species, Blanchetiodendron blanchetii, a shrub endemic to eastern Brazil. It ranges from Bahia to northeastern Minas Gerais states.
Havardia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It includes five species of trees native to the Americas, ranging from Texas and northern Mexico through Central America to Colombia and Venezuela. Typical habitats include warm-temperate and tropical seasonally-dry woodland, wooded grassland, and desert thorn scrub, typically below 450 meters elevation.
Parapiptadenia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes six species of trees and shrubs native to eastern and southern Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northern Argentina. Typical habitats include tropical coastal and dune forest (restinga), woodland, scrub, and secondary growth forest. It belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae.
Pityrocarpa is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes seven species of shrubs and small trees native to the tropical Americas, including western and southeastern Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, Venezuela and Guyana, Bolivia, and eastern Brazil. Native habitats include tropical coastal rain forest, gallery forest, secondary forest, woodland, wooded grassland (Cerrado), and thorn scrub (Caatinga). It belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae.
Prosopidastrum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes seven species of shrubs native to the subtropical Americas, with six species native to Bolivia and Argentina, and one native to Baja California. They grow in subtropical xerophytic bushland, thicket, grassland, and semi-desert. It belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae.
Sphenostylis is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes seven species of prostrate, climbing or erect herbs or subshrubs. They are native to sub-Saharan Africa, where they grow in seasonally-dry tropical and subtropical open forest, woodland, bushland and thicket, wooded grassland, and grassland, mainly in the Zambezian and Sudanian regions. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. Sphenostylis contains several species useful as food sources including Sphenostylis stenocarpa. Sphenostylis stenocarpa is characterized by its fruit (legume) and stipulated leaves.
Tetrapleura is a genus of flowering plants in the mimosoid clade of the family Fabaceae. It includes two species of trees native to sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from Senegal to Kenya and Tanzania, and south to Angola. They grow in tropical lowland rain forest, secondary thicket, and fringing forest in the Guineo-Congolian forest and Lake Victoria basin.
Pentaclethra macroloba is a large and common leguminous tree in the genus Pentaclethra native to the wet tropical areas of the northern Neotropics, which can form monocultural stands in some seasonally flooded habitats. It has giant, bipinnate leaves shaped like feathers. It uses seed dispersal by water to establish itself in new areas, having floating seeds that are left behind after the waters recede after floods or tides. It has hard timber which is not very resistant to rot in the tropics, but it can be treated, has a pretty pink-red colour when dry, and has a number of uses. Oil used in cosmetics is extracted from the large seeds. In the northern Amazon region the bark is used in herbal medicine as an antivenom, and in the Guianas the bark has been used as a fish poison. Despite their toxicity, the seeds are eaten by variegated squirrels, parrots and macaws, and serve as the nurseries of the larvae of the moth Carmenta surinamensis.
The non-protein amino acid-accumulating clade, also known as the Canavanine-accumulating clade is a clade of the flowering plant subfamily Faboideae that includes the majority of agriculturally-cultivated legumes. It is characterized by the accumulation of the non-proteinogenic amino acid canavanine in the seeds—a deterrent against herbivory. This phylogenetic trait was first recognized in the early 1980s. This clade is consistently resolved in molecular phylogenies. It contains many economically important genera, including Cicer, Glycine, Medicago, Phaseolus, Trifolium, Vicia, and Vigna.
Pentaclethra macrophylla, also known as the African oil bean, tree is a large size tree with long bipinnate compound leaves that is endemic to West and Central Africa. It is within the family Fabaceae. Seeds of the species are prepared and fermented to make Ugba, a soup condiment in Nigeria.
