XVI International Botanical Congess

Sequences from the cp trnL intron, sampled from 120 taxa representative of most generic groupings in Caesalpinioideae, and from Mimosoideae and Papilionoideae are used to examine tribal and subtribal relationships. Byrsocarpus (Connaraceae) is used to root the tree. The analyses suggest Detarieae, including Amherstieae, are sister to the remainder of the Leguminosae. Sister to them is a clade with Cercideae at the base, from which are derived the paraphyletic Cassieae and Caesalpinieae. Mimosoideae are derived from the Caesalpinieae, while Papilionoideae form a clade sister to most Cassieae and Caesalpinieae. These results support previous cladistic analyses, but provide added resolution suggesting more specific hypotheses in the basal Leguminosae.