The tribeAmorpheae is an early-branching clade within the flowering plant subfamily Faboideae or Papilionaceae. It is found from Mexico to Argentina. It was recently found to belong in a larger clade known informally as the dalbergioidssensu lato. This tribe is consistently resolved as monophyletic in molecular phylogenetic analyses. It is estimated to have arisen 36.9 ± 3.0 million years ago (in the Eocene). A node-based definition for Amorpheae is: "the MRCA of Psorothamnus arborescens and Eysenhardtia orthocarpa." The tribe exhibits the following morphological synapomorphies: "epidermal glands throughout the plant body; dry, indehiscent fruits that are single-seeded; and terminal inflorescences."
Subclades and genera
Amorphoids
The amorphoids can be distinguished from the daleoids on the basis of their non-papilionaceous flowers.
12Cardoso D, de Queiroz LP, Pennington RT, de Lima HC, Fonty É, Wojciechowski MF, Lavin M (2012). "Revisiting the phylogeny of papilionoid legumes: new insights from comprehensively sampled early-branching lineages". Am J Bot. 99 (12): 1991–2013. doi:10.3732/ajb.1200380. PMID23221500.