XVI International Botanical Congess
Molecular phylogenies demonstrate that the predominantly Old World tribes Millettieae and Phaseoleae together form a distinct clade in Papilionoideae, even though both are para- or polyphyletic individually. Phylogenies based on chloroplast rbcL, matK, and nuclear ITS strongly support the monophyly of Millettieae/Phaseoleae clade, which also includes tribes Abreae, Desmodieae, and Psoraleeae. The phylogenies suggest that characters of the inflorescence, cytology, and non-protein amino acids provide clear phylogenetic information, where as fruit types usually obscure the relationships in these groups.