Taxonomy

 

Kingdom: Plants

Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – vascular plants

Superdivision: Spermatophyta – seed plants

Division: Magnoliophyta – flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida

Subclass: Rosidae / Dicotyledonae

Superorder: Fabiflorae (Dahlgren)

Order: Fabales has four families (Leguminosae, Polygalaceae, Surianaceae, Quillajaceae) with appr. 18.000 species

Familiy: Leguminosae (Pea family; sometimes named Fabaceae); 460 genera, > 12.000 species: e.g. Dalbergia, Robinia

Subfamiliy: Papilionoideae (= Faboideae)

  • Caesalpinioideae: 160 genera, e.g. Cassia, Ceris, Gleditsia, Intsia, Tamarindus
  • Mimosoideae: four tribes (intrafamilies) with 60 Genera, >3.000 species


Tribe: Mimozygantheae

  • Mimoseae, containing e.g. Genus Parkieae
  • Ingeae, containing e.g. Genera Calliandra, Albizia, Faidherbia note: Tribe Faidherbia has only one species: F. albida, formerly known as Acacia albida
  • Acacieae

After the formal subdivision of Acacia has occurred Acacieae will have five genera (see: note from worldwidewattle below)

Genus Acacia (formerly Subgenus Phyllodineae in Acacia s.l.)
Genus Vachellia (Parts of former Genus Acacia s.l. : Subgenus Vachellia)
Genus Senegalia (Parts of former Genus Acacia s.l. : Subgenus Aculeiferum)
Genus Acaciella (formerly Subgenus Aculeiferum: Section Filicineae)
Genus Mariosousa (formely in Subgenus Aculeiferum: “Coultieri-Group”).

The Genus Acacia in Australia includes all species of the old Subgenus Phyllodineae: The sections under (old) Subgenus Phyllodineae have now become Subgenera themselves:
1 Alatae
2 Botrycephalae
3 Lycopodiifoliae
4 Juliflorae
6 Plurinerves
7 Pulchellae

In the tribe Acacieae there are appr. 1.400 species (= formerly Acacia s.l.) plus numerous variations.

28.9.12

Acacia name issue
On July 16, 2005 the Nomenclature Section of the XVII International Botanical Congress in Vienna , Austria , voted to accept the Spermatophyta Committee's recommendation to conserve the name Acacia by retypifying it with a new type as proposed by Orchard & Maslin (2003). This decision was subsequently ratified at the Plenary Session of the Congress on July 23. This means that when Acacia is formally split the new type will be A. penninervis and the name Acacia will be retained for the almost 1.000 species currently ascribed to Acacia Subgenus Phyllodineae . The majority of these species occur naturally within Australia , however, a number of them are extensively utilized for economic and other purposes, or occur as environmental weeds, in many countries around the world.