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
Bauhinia is a large genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Cercidoideae and tribe Bauhinieae, in the large flowering plant family Fabaceae, with a pantropical distribution. The genus was named after the Bauhin brothers Gaspard and Johann, Swiss-French botanists.
Cassia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, and the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Species are known commonly as cassias. The genus includes 37 species and has a pantropical distribution. Species of the genera Senna and Chamaecrista were previously included in Cassia. Cassia now generally includes the largest species of the legume subtribe Cassiinae, usually mid-sized to tall trees.
Calliandra is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, in the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It contains about 140 species that are native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas.
Dipteryx is a genus containing a number of species of large trees and possibly shrubs. It belongs to the "papilionoid" subfamily – Faboideae – of the family Fabaceae. This genus is native to South and Central America and the Caribbean. Formerly, the related genus Taralea was included in Dipteryx.
Senna, the sennas, is a large genus of flowering plants in the legume family. This diverse genus is native throughout the tropics, with a small number of species in temperate regions. The number of species is estimated to be from about 260 to 350. The type species for the genus is Senna alexandrina. About 50 species of Senna are known in cultivation.
Piptadenia is a genus of tropical shrubs and trees of the family Fabaceae. It includes 28 species native to the tropical Americas, ranging from central Mexico to southern Brazil and northwestern Argentina.
Chamaecrista is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Members of the genus are commonly known as sensitive pea. Several species are capable of rapid plant movement. Unlike the related genera Cassia and Senna, members of Chamaecrista form root nodules.
Machaerium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic Dalbergia clade of the Dalbergieae. It contains the following species:
Macrolobium is a legume genus in the subfamily Detarioideae. It is a tropical genus with about 80 species. Half occur in Brazil, where they are common in the floodplains of the Amazonian Basin. Members of the genus are used as ornamentals and for their wood.
Macrosamanea is a genus of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes 11 species of trees and shrubs native to northern South America. The genus is most diverse and numerous in the Amazon Basin, extending into the Orinoco basin and the Guianas. Typical habitat is tropical rain forest, mostly riparian and seasonally-flooded. Two species are native to seasonally-inundated wooded grassland (savanna) on sandy soils. The genus belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae.
Swartzia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It was named in honor of Swedish botanist Olof Swartz and contains about 200 species. Swartzia is restricted in its geographical distribution to the New World Tropics, where it occurs primarily in lowland rainforests, but also in savannas, pre-montane forests, and tropical dry forests. While it can be found throughout the wet lowlands from Mexico and the Caribbean islands to southern Brazil and Bolivia, Swartzia is most abundant and species-rich in Amazonia, where 10–20 species may co-occur at a single site. The species of Swartzia are mostly trees, ranging from small understory treelets to large canopy emergents. Some species, especially in savannas, are mult-stemmed shrubs.
Tachigali is a flowering plant genus in the legume family (Fabaceae). It includes 74 species of trees native to the tropical Americas, ranging from Nicaragua to Bolivia, Paraguay, and southern Brazil. Typical habitats include tropical rain forest, lower montane forest, seasonally-flooded and non-flooded evergreen lowland forest and woodland, gallery and riparian forest, sometimes on white sands, cerrado and other dry woodland, and rocky grassland.
Zygia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes 60 species of tres and shrubs native to the tropical Americas, from Southern Mexico and Cuba to northern Argentina. Typical habitats are tropical forest and coastal zones, generally below 900 meters elevation with a few species extending up to 2800 meters. It belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae.
Aeschynomene is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic Dalbergia clade of the Dalbergieae. They are known commonly as jointvetches. They range across tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, south, southeast, and east Asia, and Australia. These legumes are most common in warm regions and many species are aquatic.
Cercidoideae is a subfamily in the pea family, Fabaceae. Well-known members include Cercis (redbuds), including species widely cultivated as ornamental trees in the United States and Europe, Bauhinia, widely cultivated as an ornamental tree in tropical Asia, and Tylosema, a semi-woody genus of Africa. The subfamily occupies a basal position within the Fabaceae and is supported as monophyletic in many molecular phylogenies. At the 6th International Legume Conference, the Legume Phylogeny Working Group proposed elevating the tribe Cercidae to the level of subfamily within the Leguminosae (Fabaceae). The consensus agreed to the change, which was fully implemented in 2017. It has the following clade-based definition:
The most inclusive crown clade containing Cercis canadensisL. and Bauhinia divaricataL. but not Poeppigia proceraC.Presl, Duparquetia orchidaceaBaill., or Bobgunnia fistuloides(Harms) J.H.Kirkbr. & Wiersema.
Lasiobema was a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, most of which are lianas, belonging to the subfamily Cercidoideae. It was recently (2010) synonymized with Phanera on the basis of morphology, although this was questioned and it can be treated as a section of this genus.
