The tribe Exostyleae is an early-branching

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

of the

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

subfamily

Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae, or Papilionaceae when this group of plants is treated as a family. This subfamily is widely ...

(or Papilionaceae) that are mostly found in Neotropical rainforests.

Description

This clade is composed of 6 genera, most of which were traditionally assigned to the tribe

Swartzieae The tribe (biology), tribe Swartzieae is an early-branching monophyly, monophyletic clade of the flowering plant subfamily Faboideae or Papilionaceae. Traditionally this tribe has been used as a wastebasket taxon to accommodate genera of Faboidea ...

. However, recent

molecular phylogenetic 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 ...

analyses circumscribed these six genera into a strongly supported monophyletic clade. Synapomorphic traits that unite the members of this clade include non-papilionate flowers, "serrate and sometimes spinescent leaflet or leaf margins, standard position variable in the floral bud, basifixed anthers, and drupaceous fruits". They are also united by

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

anatomy, sharing an "uncommon presence of crystals in ray cells", and floral

ontogeny Ontogeny (also ontogenesis) is the origination and development of an organism (both physical and psychological, e.g., moral development), usually from the time of fertilization of the ovum, egg to adult. The term can also be used to refer to t ...

, sharing "unidirectional initiation of five sepals, simultaneous initiation of petals, and ��nusual antepetalous stamens initiating before the antesepalous ones."

Genera

* '' Exostyles'' Schott * '' Harleyodendron'' R. S. Cowan * '' Holocalyx'' Micheli * ''

Lecointea ''Lecointea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It contains seven species native to the tropical Americas. * ''Lecointea amazonica'' Ducke * ''Lecointea guianensis'' * ''Lecointea hatschbachii'' * ''Lecointea lasiogyne'' * ...

'' Ducke. * '' Uribea'' Dugand & Romero * '' Zollernia'' Wied-Neuw. & Nees

References

Faboideae {{Faboideae-stub