The Mirbelioids are an informal subdivision of the plant

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

that includes the former tribes Bossiaeeae and Mirbelieae. They are consistently recovered as a

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

clade in

molecular phylogenies Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

. The Mirbelioids arose 48.4 ± 1.3 million years ago (in the early

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

). Members of this clade are mostly ericoid (

sclerophyllous Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

) shrubs with yellow and red ('egg and bacon') flowers found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, and

Papua-New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. The name of this clade is informal and is not assumed to have any particular

taxonomic rank In biological classification, taxonomic rank is the relative level of a group of organisms (a taxon) in an ancestral or hereditary hierarchy. A common system consists of species, genus, family (biology), family, order (biology), order, class (b ...

like the names authorized by the

ICBN The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all those "trad ...

or the ICPN. Members of this clade exhibit unusual embryology compared to other legumes, either enlarged antipodal cells in the embryo sac or the production of multiple embryo sacs. There has been a shift from bee pollination to bird pollination several times in this clade. Mirbelioids produce

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, but unlike most papilionoids, they do not produce

isoflavone Isoflavones are substituted derivatives of isoflavone, a type of naturally occurring isoflavonoids, many of which act as phytoestrogens in mammals. Isoflavones are produced almost exclusively by the members of the bean family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae ...

s. Many of the Mirbelioids have pseudoraceme

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

Genera

The Mirbelioids have been

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

to include the following

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

Giant antipodals group

* '' Aenictophyton'' A. T. Lee * ''

Bossiaea ''Bossiaea'' is a genus of about 78 species of flowering plants in the pea family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. Plants in this genus often have stems and branches modified as cladodes, simple, often much reduced leaves, flowers with the ...

'' Vent. * ''

Daviesia ''Daviesia'', commonly known as bitter-peas, is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and is endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus ''Daviesia'' are shrubs or small trees with leaves modified as phyllodes or ...

'' Sm. * '' Erichsenia'' Hemsl. * ''

Gompholobium ''Gompholobium'', commonly known as glory peas or wedge-peas, is a genus of plants in the pea family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. Most species have compound leaves composed of three leaflets and all have ten stamens which are free from e ...

'' Sm. * ''

Goodia ''Goodia'' is a genus of six species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and is endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus ''Daviesia'' are shrubs with trifoliate leaves. The flowers are arranged in racemes, the sepals with two "lips", th ...

'' Salisb. * '' Muelleranthus'' Hutch. * '' Paragoodia'' I. Thomps. * ''

Platylobium ''Platylobium'' is a genus of shrubs in the family Fabaceae. Native to south eastern Australia, they occur in a range of habitats of the coastal regions. The genus was first described by James Edward Smith, and is closely allied to ''Bossia ...

'' Sm. * ''

Ptychosema ''Ptychosema'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the s ...

'' Benth. ''ex'' Lindl. * '' Sphaerolobium'' Sm. * '' Viminaria'' Sm.

Multiple embryo-sac group

Basal grade

* '' Isotropis''

Benth. George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

* '' Jacksonia'' R. Br. ex Sm. * '' Leptosema'' Benth.

''Callistachys'' group

* '' Callistachys'' Vent. * ''

Gastrolobium ''Gastrolobium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. There are over 100 species in this genus, and all but two are native to the south west region of Western Australia. A significant number of the species accumulate monofluo ...

'' R.Br.

''Oxylobium'' grade

* '' Chorizema'' Labill. * ''

Mirbelia ''Mirbelia'' is a plant genus belonging to the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia, occurring in every mainland state except South Australia. Plants in the genus ''Mirbelia'' are prickly, perennial shrubs with simple, sometimes sharply- ...

'' Sm. * ''

Oxylobium ''Oxylobium'', commonly known as shaggy-pea, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae all of which are endemic to Australia. Description Oxylobium range in size from prostrate to tall, upright shrubs, mostly with simple, hairy s ...

'' Andrews * '' Podolobium'' R. Br.

''Pultenaea'' group

* '' Almaleea'' Crisp & P. H. Weston * '' Aotus''

Sm. __NOTOC__ Sir James Edward Smith (2 December 1759 – 17 March 1828) was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society. Early life and education Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a ...

* ''

Dillwynia ''Dillwynia'' is a genus of about 20 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and is endemic to Australia. Plants in this genus are shrubs with simple leaves and yellow or red and yellow flowers similar to others in the family. Desc ...

'' Sm. * '' Euchilopsis'' F. Muell. * '' Eutaxia'' R. Br. * ''

Latrobea ''Latrobea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the su ...

'' Sm. * '' Phyllota'' (DC.) Benth. * ''

Pultenaea ''Pultenaea'' is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and is endemic to Australia. Plants in this genus are shrubs with simple leaves and orange or yellow flowers similar to others in the family but with the ...

'' Sm. * '' Stonesiella'' Crisp & P. H. Weston * '' Urodon'' Turcz. It has been proposed that many of these genera be subsumed into ''Pultenaea''.

References

{{Reflist, 3 Fabaceae tribes Fabales of Australia Plant unranked clades