The Mirbelioids are an informal subdivision of the plant family Fabaceae that includes the former tribes Bossiaeeae and Mirbelieae. They are consistently recovered as a monophyletic clade in molecular phylogenies.[1][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The Mirbelioids arose 48.4 ± 1.3 million years ago (in the early Eocene).[10] Members of this clade are mostly ericoid (sclerophyllous) shrubs with yellow and red ('egg and bacon') flowers found in Australia, Tasmania, and Papua-New Guinea.[11][12] The name of this clade is informal and is not assumed to have any particular taxonomic rank like the names authorized by the ICBN or the ICPN.[2] 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.[3][4][13][14] There has been a shift from bee pollination to bird pollination several times in this clade.[15] Mirbelioids produce quinolizidine alkaloids,[16] but unlike most papilionoids, they do not produce isoflavones.[17] Many of the Mirbelioids have pseudoraceme inflorescences.[18]
Mirbelioids | |
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Mirbelia floribunda | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Fabales |
Family: | Fabaceae |
Subfamily: | Faboideae |
Clade: | Meso-Papilionoideae |
Clade: | Non-protein amino acid-accumulating clade |
Clade: | Mirbelioids Wojciechowski et al. 2004[1][2] |
Type genus | |
Mirbelia Sm.
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Genera and subclades | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
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The Mirbelioids have been circumscribed to include the following genera:[5][19]
It has been proposed that many of these genera be subsumed into Pultenaea.[21][22][23]